GALICIA

Nací en Galicia. Para ser exactos en Sarria, Lugo. Muy a mi pesar, no la conozco porque estuve solo tres meses y luego ya en San Sebastian e Irún. Mi padre, ingeniero agrónomo estaba allí, supongo que por razones de trabajo, y tanto mi hermano como yo nacimos en esa bella ciudad que me propongo conocer una vez que me jubile. Esto viene a cuento porque teniendo yo doce años, yendo al colegio en Toronto, todos los dias me cruzaba con dos chicos cubanos, muy guapos, internos en el colegio de St. Michael's que iban desde su residencia hasta el colegio. Como les oia hablar español (en esa época recordad que no conocía a ningun hispano-hablante) un dia les saludé, nos paramos y hablamos. Desde ese dia siempre me saludaban "Hola, galleguita". Total, que venga "galleguita" por aquí y venga "galleguita" por allá. Uno de ellos, Carlos, me gustaba bastante, me hice una ilusión tremenda pensando en cómo había averiguado que había nacido ¡en Galicia! Pensé que era un lince de los que ya no quedan... Pasaron los años, y ya me enteré que en Sud America todos los españoles eramos gallegos...

I was born in Galicia (northwest of Spain). To be exact in Sarria (Lugo). Unfortunately, I don't know the city because I was only there for three months, then on to San Sebastian and Irún. My father was an agricultural engineer and, I suppose, he was working there at the time. Both my brother and I were born in that beautiful city which, hopefully, I will visit once I'm retired. When I was twelve-years-old, every day on my way to school, in Toronto, I came across two very handsome Cuban teenagers, who were boarders at St. Michael's, on their way to school from their residence. Since I heard them speak Spanish (in those years I didn't hear ANYONE speak Spanish) one day I said hello and spoke to them. Ever since that day, everytime we crossed our paths, they would greet me saying "hello, little Galician!"... so it was "little Galician" here and "little Galician" there. I had a crush on one of them, Carlos, and I thought HOW clever of him to have found out that I was born in Galicia! Years later, I found out that in South America ALL Spaniards were Galician...