Barcelona: First Impressions

From the second I stepped off the airport bus into the peaceful Plaza de Catalunya here in Barcelona, Spain, I´ve felt truly on vacation. With its wide streets and steady breeze from the not-so-far-away ocean, Barcelona is a vacationer´s paradise. Excited to find myself once again in a Spanish-speaking country and anxious to try out my rusty language skills, I looked immediately to the street signs to see how much I could decipher. Alas, they were completely foreign--Catalán, rather than Spanish, is the ruling language in this area. In spite of this minor setback, however, I proceeded pig-headedly to try to use my Spanish in whatever basic transactions I could. I was relatively successful (pretty much everyone speaks Spanish as well as Catalán here)--except for my failure to adapt my Spanish for the particular accent here in Spain, making me practically incomprehensible to the local population. Yesterday in a convenience store, I attempted to ask the cashier what kinds of candies were considered traditional ¨Spanish¨ candies. Unfortunately, however, our lovely friend behind the counter was having difficulty understanding my use of the word ¨dulces¨ (¨candies¨). ¨Luces?¨ she asked with a confused face. ¨No, dulces--para comer!¨I responded. Finally, after much sign language and use of the English word "candies", we had a breakthrough. ¨Ohhh...dulthes!¨ she replied. Upon which I was reminded that, yes, indeed....I am in Esthpaña...