I was born in Galicia, the periphery of the province, one of the poorest European regions. This economic (and cultural) sluggishness is doubtlessly caused by local idiosincrasies. One example should be enough: if you ask a random homo galicianus for an address, s-he will first want to know where you have been, when and why you got lost, etc. The conversation drags on and only at the end, after insisting a lot, you get a "simple" answer: "When you got to that roundabout, you should have turned left (says the homo galicianus pointing to the right). You turned right (s-he says pointing to the left), and now you're lost. Now you can go back to the roundabout and get things right or just carry on 100 yards and you'll get to the place you were looking for". Then, s-he will recommend you "walk in the shade" which is a Galician phrase that in spite of my having lived there for 24 years I still don't understand, especially because it's never sunny in Galicia.
Anyway, it doesn't matter where you are in the world. If you're in trouble, you only need to speak Galician and lots of people will understand you. This morning, for example, I went to have breakfast to Caffe Spettacolo, by far my favourite place in Zurich (probably because of the sandwiches they serve). I have breakfast there very often, but they still don't understand my (three words of) German, nor do I understand anything they say. I was, hence, struggling to get my sandwich and my coffee, pointing at things, smiling a lot and saying things in half-English and half-German when the man next to me winked at the waiter and said in Galician: "Poor boy! he reminds me of myself when I came here 30 years ago!" The girl, in the usual self-deprecatory Galician manner, answered: "At least he speaks English and you can't speak anything, Pepe".
It was the 6th time in 11 days in which Galician saves my live. Needless to say, they didn't let me pay for my breakfast. As soon as I'm back in England, I will brush up my Galician!
