Government Officials and Underdogs

In the past few weeks I have been keeping busy with Spanish classes and homework, wrenching at the bike shop, Spanish style outings until 5 AM, and I recently began an intercambio with a Spanish native named Lorenz. My time is being filled quickly, it seems, as I integrate more into the daily "hustle-and-bustle" of Spanish life. I don't feel hustled or bustled in the least and am finding my body and mind nodding in agreement.
For those who don't know, an intercambio is when two people meet to learn the others native language through conversation. Basically you have conversation and switch between each language. I met Lorenz through my Spanish teacher Sophia and we get a long great! Lorenz works for the Catalan government and he has told me numerous times exactly what it is that he does but I still can't figure out how it translates! When we met, Lorenz took me to this cool cafe that he says he goes to regularly on his breaks from work. The cafe is folded away in a narrow street that is difficult to navigate with the smallest car en el Gotico where imported Moroccan teas are poured from intricately decorated silver teapots and soft smoke from hookahs fills the room. As we sipped our tea from our tiny glass cups, our conversation drifted from the hills of San Francisco, to why the Spanish have plazas and the U.S. has squares, to Plato and Socrates. We had a good time and I learned a few useful phrases! This week, Lorenz is going to take me to his favorite library near la Rambla!
On the work front, things are coming along and Gaby and I are becoming good friends! I have nicknamed her "Butterfingers" because she is prone to dropping the bike tools. Last week we had to get a few parts from another bike shop so we hit the road on our bikes. The ride was a bit dodgy as we weaved our way through busy streets as people were heading home for their midday break. We arrived at the shop and it was meticulously organized with the tools beautifully mounted on the shop wall. At our shop there is no method to our madness and all of the tools are thrown into an old filing cabinet where you can find anything from a specialty tool used to take links out of a bike chain to a purple aluminum pipe that may have once been used as a baton or some other child’s toy that has been reincarnated to get leverage when a part is screwed on too tight. The mechanics were even spotless and made me self-conscious of my greasy rug rat appearance. We are the underdogs compared to the luxury bike shop, but I have always had a soft spot for underdogs and it made me smile as we grabbed our items from the counter with my grease stained hands.
I really am enjoying this learning experience and I think that it may change the course of my career path. I just feel good working in the shop with Gaby with the radio playing, both of us fiddling with a bike, greeting folks who walk through the door with questions, adjusting saddles to renters, chatting in English/Spanish/German and calling each other names, and taking our daily pausa para un cafe con leche o cortado.