I arrived at the airport in La Coruna. It's a very small airport from what I could see, and it looked all closed and ready to go to bed, bar our flight. We all gathered in a small luggage area with a tiny carousel, which eventually screeched into life. All was well, my bag came out - undamaged too.
I exited the baggage hall and, sure enough, a man was waiting with a sign with "Andrea Anon" written on it. I signalled to him then walked up and told him my name was Tom (in Spanish of course). It very quickly became clear that he spoke almost no English, and that my Spanish was going to have to do. No problema - buenas practicas. We walked out into the evening and he muttered something which I thought meant wait here (while we were walking through a sort of coned off layby). I waited while he wandered out of view into the dark. I did then question myself on whether he meant wait or not, but he turned up with vehicle a few minutes later.
So, once in the car, here's how our conversation first progressed: I would ask something in English first to see if he understood..."No le entiendo" he would say. Ok, so I would either have to say it in Spanish, rephrase it, or not say it at all. After a couple of tries, I decided to omit the English beginning; Spanish only. One of my first questions was omitted, as it was "Did you spend a long time waiting due to my flight being delayed?" - Without constant page flicking of the phrase book and many lingual mistakes, we weren't going to manage to discuss that one.
When I asked questions in Spanish his replies were rapid and fairly in depth so I then would reply "No le entiendo". He would rephrase/simplify and I would then understand. I said to him in Spanish that I speak a little, but do not understand much. However, I didn't do too badly, and I even managed to understand when he asked me if it was my first time joining the Andrea Anon. If only my reply could have been a bit more impressive than "Si". I did also manage to ascertain from him that I would be joining the ship the next day, but he wasn't sure when - it could be morning or afternoon - currently Marine Traffic gives the ship an eta of 8pm this evening, however looking at it's speed and last position on the map it may well reach here sooner.
After a short drive we arrived at the hotel. My new favourite person was discovered to be the receptionist, as she speaks Spanish and English. When my agent departed we tried to have a Spanish conversation arranging what would happen tomorrow. I understood that he would pick me up morning or afternoon to take me to the ship, but the receptionist had to translate for me to say that he would contact the hotel and they would phone my room. So, I'm staying put in the hotel until I'm called upon. I've got an arrangement with the receptionist now whereby I speak Spanish to her and then she speaks English back (if I know I won't be able to follow the reply)
My breakfast Spanish was again tested this morning - luckily from sailing in Tenerife I'd remembered the crucial des-cafeinado for my coffee. Mr Wainde from Tonbridge (my GCSE Spanish teacher) would have been proud of me, as I ordered Churros - a kind of Spanish donut, only shaped differently. He always used to talk of them and I've never had the chance to order them until now.
Churros
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