Hola chic@s,

Espero que estén bien.

I recently caught up with a friend, who now lives in Lisbon, and he reminded me of a trip we took to Madrid a few years ago.

A group of young lads on the razz in a seven-story nightclub in the centre of the Spanish capital.

What could go wrong?

Muchas cosas.

For starters, one of my amigos had eaten some dodgy tapas earlier that evening and needed a number two in the toilet.

To his disbelief, there was no papel higiénico left 🧻

So he had to get creative…

I’ll leave you to imagine what happened next.

As for my drunken self, I was delighted to find an empty six-litre bottle of vodka on the top floor of the club.

Naturally, I decided to pose with it for Instagram.

Crouching down in front of the prize, I was suddenly whisked off my feet by two bouncers, who proceeded to drag me down the seven flights of stairs.

“¡¿Qué hice?!” I protested.

No reply.

When we reached the bottom floor, a black curtain was pulled back and I was shoved onto a chair beneath a spotlight.

The curtain was closed behind us.

I looked up at the two pit bull bouncers who had been handling me.

“¿Qué hice?” I asked again.

“Robaste la botella”
“You stole the bottle”

I clearly hadn’t, and told them to check the CCTV footage.

Then they accused me of taking drugs.

Again, I clapped back.

This time, I received two punches to the side of my cabeza.

Stunned, I unleashed a tirade of palabrotas, before being picked up again and thrown out onto the streets.

I didn’t plan on practising the preterite tense in that particular situation.

It certainly wasn’t a role-play I’d prepared for.

I didn’t even know the Spanish word for ‘bouncer’.

I still don’t.

But it’s another story.

Stories over streaks, chic@s.

Keep getting out there.

Un abrazo,
Harrison

Spanish for living, not just learning


P.S - One of the reasons I used this story this week, and why I didn’t post yesterday, is because I’ve just got back from a wedding with a few unhinged characters. Not my usual environment, but again, it’s important to step into the unknown and be a participant.

P.P.S - I’ve also created this app as a little side project. It’s called Name+ and it helps you remember the names of the people you meet. Another tool to get you into participant mode and connecting with others. Disfruta.