After being born in El Paso and having lived there for 17 years, I have inevitably gotten accustomed to and embraced the ubiquitous Mexican-American culture that El Paso historically boasts. Located right on the border with Mexico and being colonized by Juan de Oñate, among other Spaniards, it is not shocking that El Paso is a predominantly Hispanic community. Sure there is a good amount of whites, African-Americans, and other “minorities,” but the large majority of El Pasoans are Mexican and/or Mexican-American. Mexican cuisine, television, festivities, and traditions all take part of El Paso’s daily cultural life. Perhaps the biggest part of Mexican culture instilled in everyday El Paso life is soccer. Soccer is by far the most practiced sport in El Paso, and, surely enough, it found its way into my everyday life. I have played soccer for as long as I can remember, and if there is one event I vividly remember in my meager yet accomplished career is my eight month stay in the city of Sabadell in Catalonia, Spain.
In El Paso, everyone in the soccer world knew each other, and even if you did not directly know them, you still somehow found a shared connection, whether it was a player, a coach, or a team. Everyone spoke Spanish, and everyone had that Mexican heritage that bonded us together. I erroneously thought I was ready to play in Spain. After all, the Spanish were to El Paso what the British were to Jamestown. I was more excited than scared, but still scared nonetheless, to embark on my new adventure.
I remember getting to the Sabadell FC installations and seeing more different people than I ever saw in El Paso. I saw Spaniards, Catalans, Africans, French, even a Japanese. I heard so many different languages I was not even sure I was in Spain anymore. I roomed with Samuel, a physically massive Nigerian, Henry, an Algerian-French Muslim, and Santiago, a native Catalan. We had an extremely difficult time communicating and adapting to each other. I spoke English with Samuel, and Spanish with Santi. I often served as the translator because Samuel did not know Spanish, and Santi did not know English. Their food was so different from
