An odd food spot trend in Barcelona: naming restaurants after American states. I ran past “Nebraska” in our L’Eixample neighborhood. We also found “Kentucky” on one of our museum trips.
In Sitges, “Kansas” had a lovely bar on the beach.
This is my entry for the Weekly Photo Challenge: Foreign.
Topeka was home to my first news producer gig. In this newsroom, I showed off my “Jane-of-all-trades” skills – producing, editing, shooting video and more. I got used to tornado sirens and buying alcohol on any day of the week except Sunday. My newsroom colleagues were talented and awesome. We worked hard and played harder after my 10 PM shows.
I’m grateful to those who opened up their homes and dining tables for holiday meals. They made us feel so welcome when we couldn’t fly home to California.
Kansas also felt like a foreign country. I wore my UC Berkeley shirt during my first shopping trip at the mall. I remember an older couple nodded hello to us in the parking lot.
“You should have went to Penn State,” said the man. Then he nodded at my shirt. They walked away.
I remember working out at the gym near our newsroom. An older Filipina stepped on the stairmaster next to me. I said “Yes” when she asked me if I was Filipino. I said “No” when she asked me if I could speak Tagalog. She tried giving me advice on where to buy pan de sal . I told her I found the Oriental store. She said my husband must feel lucky that I know how to cook.
“Did you meet your husband online?” she asked. I told her no. She explained that she thought I followed my husband to Topeka for his job. That’s when I explained how my husband followed me to Kansas for my newsroom job.
The Sunflower State was interesting.
And I’m happy to be home in California.