A generous gentleman in Granada

So tonight I was comtemplating dinner.  I had two options - one a tapas bar specializing in fried seafood and two a sit down Spanish place that is known for its main dishes.  Being a solo diner I started at the tapas bar.  It was very local.  Very good for me, I love to immerse myself in the local scene.  Not a foreigner in the bar as far as I could tell.  This makes me happy.  The menu was all deep fried fish and shellfish.  Not exactly what I was in the mood for.  My backup restaurant is a sit down place, more of the typical restaurant.  The word is it is tourist early and local late.  The Spanish don´t do dinner early.  They start at perhaps 2200.  I was hungry so I did the tourist thing and ate early.  I sat down in between two tables of Americans.  The first, a table of parents with their college aged American daughter.  I saw this in Madrid.  There are a lot of American college kids studying in Spain.  This table did not sit well with me from the start.  The mother had a LV bag and dyed hair.  She talked like she thought she was the Queen.  She was a typical well off American ignorant cow.  Her husband was overweight, poorly dressed and had a goatee.  The daughter talked like a drunken sailor.  I guess she thought since she was studying Spanish she owned the fucking world.  What an embarrassment.  So many rich and sloppy Americans in Europe. 

The next table was an American couple.  I´d estimate they were in there late 50s.  The woman was dictating for 20 minutes straight out of the Rick Steve´s guidebook to her hapless husband.  He was a sad sap that had no balls.  She was a type-A American woman with sharp glasses and a large mouth.  She addressed the waiter in accented American English.  No attempt at Spanish.  No gracias.  No la cuenta por favor.  Nothing.  She thought she owned the fucking place.  What an ugly American.  I hate people like that.  She complained about how tasteless her 0.60 Euro bread was.  Get a grip lady.   

At the far table was a Japanese couple in their early 60s I would estimate.  The man was ordering up the whole damn menu.  Hamon Iberico, a bottle of Reserva wine and an assortment of other things.  He reminded me of Francone.  The dude wanted to taste the whole damn menu.  I liked that.  He asked the waiter for some grilled shrimp in very broken English.  The waiter did not understand what he said.  My Spanish is limited but I knew what he wanted.  Gambas al la plancha.  I communitcated this to the waiter.  The Japanese man thanked me in his broken English.  I knew he was from Japan so I asked him where he was from.  Osaka, he answered.  I have been there with Dave last year.  Great city, tons of lights.  A very futuristic place for a kid from the Valley.  I told him that I had been there and then I listed off some of the native foods from Osaka.  Okinomiyaki and takoyaki.  He was so happy to hear this.  I told him I had been to Japan 4 times and that I loved it.  I really do.  Japan is one of my favorite places to visit.  I love the food and the people.  I know they have a brutal history.  Tora, Tora, Tora and other unspeakable atrocities but I´m too young to hold that against them.  What I know is a people with great mannors, a love for travel, deep respect and honor.  I asked the couple about their wine.  I don´t think they understood me.  They asked me if I liked sushi.  Well of course I do.  I told them I love toro and uni.  Oh yes, he was happy.  I told him I love shabu shabu, sake and shochu.  I love yakitori too.  He loved it. I spoke to him in the Japanese that I know which is minimal.  I know how to say delicious and a few other basic things.   

My meal had ended and I ordered a glass of sherry.  The sherry in Spain is different from what we have in the USA.  This was a dry sherry and damn delicious.  Knowing that my new Japanese friend was a man of great taste I told the waiter to send him and his wife glasses of the sherry on my tab.  The man was so taken by this gesture.  His wife downed the glass of sherry.  I love a woman who can drink.  Japanese women sure can drink with the best of them and this woman was no exception.  When my new friend´s bill came he instructed the waiter that he wanted to cover my bill.  I refused but he also refused.  We went back and forth.  The Japanese man covered my bill in cash.  My main was 19, my bottle of wine was 14 and my sherry was something like 5. It was super generous of this complete stranger to pick up my bill.  I absolutely refused to the waiter but the cash did the talking.  I insisted on treating my new friends to more drinks after dinner but they were keen to get a taxi as they were visiting the Alhambra in the morning.  I have never had a complete stranger pick up my dinner tab like this.  I am deeply humbled by this man´s generosity.  I think he could sense my love for Japan and its culture.  Funny how my grandfather was set to fight against the Japanese before he was held back by polio.  He referred to them as Japs.  I wish he had the chance to know them like I do.  Amazing how things can change in a short period of time.  The Japanese are good people.  I feel the Germans are good people too. I have some great German friends. 

I finished my evening by watching some futbol and enjoying a caña.  I chatted with a nice Romanian lady working at my hotel.  She immigrated to Spain 10 years ago and has never been to Madrid.  I told here what a party town it is.  This girl is in her mid 20s.  She should get to Madrid and enjoy the great party action there.

Spain is a wonderful, vibrant country.  I feel very comfortable here and I enjoy using what little bit of Spanish that I know.  I try my best to act like a local.  I feel inspired to learn more of their native language.