Characters

One of the things I particularly love about living in a big city is all the possible people there are to meet. Life surrounded can be paradoxically lonely some days, but then, all of the sudden, you’ll meet the most interesting person, all because you were sitting, minding your own business, in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time, depending on your point of view really). I, personally, live for such days.

Not long ago I was sitting at my favorite neighborhood café, doing some philosophy reading, when I met a most intriguing character. I like this café so much because there is just one big wooden table, and as everyone sits around it drinking coffee, eating, and chatting it is perfect for eavesdropping, another one of my favorite Spanish pastimes. On that particular evening I noticed that there was a man sitting to my right, though since he was reading as well I didn’t pay so much attention to him. No eavesdropping to be done. After a while he asked me if I had a pencil, and, as I fished one out of my bag, noted that I was “very prepared”. I smiled and tried to explain that I just can’t be sure when the urge to write will come upon me, hence the preparation. I’m not sure what parts of this came across in Spanish, and how. In any case, no further conversation seemed necessary and we each returned to our reading. A bit later, as I finished my chapter, he initiated conversation once again. “How do you like the book?” he asked. And so I started in… I like reading Bertrand Russell, I said, as his sense of humor suits me, but some aspects of philosophy are really challenging for me, and while I do enjoy the mental exercise, I’m not sure I am so masochistic as to like the experience. “Oh I know how it is,” he said as I finished struggling to explain my relationship to the subject, “I studied philosophy too”. I will admit that I was a bit floored, immediately hoping that I hadn’t sounded as ignorant as I heard myself to be, but quickly remembered that that is one of the excitements of starting café conversations… you just never know for sure who you are talking to.

Since then I have met for further conversations with the unexpected philosopher, which, aside from being of infinite value for my Spanish language skills, are also always terribly interesting. And all this over a nonchalant cup of coffee…