21/10/2016
Stranger: Suzan
Sunglasses, juwelry, music, dream catchers and more. The hippie market of Punta Arabi is colourful and busy. I hear the happy voices of many tourists in search for the free spirits on Ibiza. For a brief moment I close my eyes and it sounds like I'm in The Netherlands instead of Spain.
Then I see a pair of beautiful boots. Using my best English, I asked the lady about the price. Which wasn't that hard, but I thought that sentence was in flawless English, till she responds to me perfectly in Dutch. So I guess I can't hide the dutchess in me. Enrique would say, you can run, you can hide, but you can't escape the Dutch.
Her looks matches nicely with the products that she was selling. Blond hair, a hat, bohemian style clothes, shells around her arm, topped with a smiling face. We started to chat. I told her that I noticed a lot of foreigners selling at this market, just like her. I asked her if she would like to tell me how she ended up selling on Ibiza. Her name is Suzan and she was more then happy to share her story about the connection and strengthening between different cultures. And I am more then happy to share it with you.
One year ago. The will to learn Spanish and the curiousity about the Spanish culture. What place better to learn, then Spain itself? Suzan was on this mission, that made her decide to move to Ibiza.
This mission became an adventure. With her Dutch 'tourist' looks and the lack of knowledge about the language, she noticed it was difficult to really connect with the locals.
During summer she got the chance to work at the market, with Natalia, a true spanish lady from Barcelona. Natalia did not speak English very well. So she had some struggles speaking and understanding the many tourists. Suzan could speak and teach her English. And Natalia could teach Suzan. Also about her culture, her lessons in life in this beautiful country. Every week they learned a lot from each other. They recognized, surprised and discovered about each other, which created this warm bond between these two.
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