I wandered this weekend to just a few meters from my own home, and went to a conference meant for real estate agents. Since 2021, I've found myself counted in this group of individuals, and I've attended meetings, parties and gatherings, but on a local level. This time was national, and as a linguist I was both overwhelmed and fascinated by the dozens of accents and ways of speaking just in Spanish alone, let alone the few of us foreigners that have infiltrated the scene.

It was to put it briefly, overwhelming. Even though I am 20 years immersed in this Spanish speaking world, I still find myself in situations that I have no effing clue, or that I feel I've been thrown into the deep end or a very rough sea, and made to survive.

Although the crowd was probably around 30 percent women or more, I still found myself at a table full of men for lunch, and in both languages I can hold my own in those situations. However, even though I've been here a very long time, I've gotta tuck in my American ideas of how people behave in situations. 

For a long time, the idea that men use fewer words than women in a day has been tossed around in the West, but in Europe, and specifically in Spain, I find this to be completely wrong. The muted, introverted man that is the US or Canada norm, that grunts at the TV and doesn't want to talk when he comes home from work, is quite the opposite here. And even more so when you find yourself at a table with a bunch of salesmen.

There, I found myself listening curiously, to men, having heard a talk on integrity and living life to the fullest (actually two separate talks) completely thrown into a discussion on both. I have rarely heard a table so animated complaining about situations in which they found themselves forced to work with other agents that had no sense of integrity or duty or even calling to the work they found themselves in. They complained and harped bitterly on those whom they worked with that money was more important than the relationship, both to the other agents and to their own clients.

My own personal colleague and I have complained privately about these same situations, and at length, but never so publicly. In fact, we were so animated that in a room of 400 other persons, the videographer from the event found our table quite interesting and hovered for longer than I wanted him to, as private and public as the conversation was.

And the conversation, paused, as my colleague said, and what do you have to say? And of course, he knows my opinion, that the people in question are quite male-dominated, and don't like to work with me, because I happen to possess the wrong parts. And, shocking in this day and age, they make that pretty clear most of the times I talk to them.

Don't get me wrong, there is another agency of women that every time they see me and my male colleague they march past like a bunch of tall, amazonas, and even though we sold a sizeable home together last year, they can't even bear to stop and give us false, Hollywood kisses. I mean, one event they walked right past us to kiss others, and M and I stood there with our beers in our hands shocked. Never has a group of middle aged women managed to make me feel like a short, stumpy, out of fashion, out of touch queen that I am not.

But the conversation with the 9 men and I suddenly shifted, and ideas of living life to the fullest, and not having it all be about work suddenly were discussed. See, we'd already heard two talks on such things, encouraged us to eat, sleep, do some sport, make love to the spouse and make sure we didnt turn into selling machines. And, Spanish men and women are pretty good at making sure these things do stay priority above work, but for those of us who are slaves to being self-employed, its a lot harder to switch off. I talked about how one afternoon or morning a week I don't, I just do something with the man, walk, have a breakfast date, got get a massage, SOMETHING BUT LOOK AT THE PHONE.

And finally, when we all dressed up and went out for dinner and danced the night away, something occured to me.

If Jesus hadn't gone to the wedding, the water would have never been turned into wine.

Had he not walked the streets, Jarius would have never found him, nor Zacheus, nor the Centurion.

If he hadn't had dinner with the religious leaders, we wouldn't know about the women and the perfume jar.

And finally, sitting at the well in the middle of the day, he wouldn't have run into the Samaritan woman.

Living in a desert climate, with lots of loud, people, is exhausting. It gets peopley out there. But, being at a conference, is where I'm supposed to be. Having my man do an art exhibition, is what we are supposed to do. Walking around the corner and "hombre!~" running into everyone, is exactly what Jesus did, and following him, is what we do.