There once was a little girl named Natalia, who was four years old and spoke English. She lived with her Mum, Dad and little brother in a flat in Spain where everyone spoke Spanish. No other little kids who spoke English lived where Natalia lived, so she had no one to play with. Every day she went with her Mum to the shops and learnt a few Spanish words like “Manana,” which meant tomorrow, and “Hola,” which means hello. Whenever they caught a bus, she greeted the bus driver with “Hola.” The driver always smiled at her and said “Hola” back.
The family was planning on how they were going to celebrate Thanksgiving. The celebration is not one Spanish people usually have on the fourth Thursday of November. Every year, the family would ask some friends to join them, but this year they had met only a few people they could speak to. Natalia hoped that she was going to have a friend who spoke English at the celebration, a friend she could practice her Spanish with.
One day, her Daddy came home from work with an envelope for Natalia with her name on it. Natalia opened the letter with great excitement. Inside was an invitation to a party at the community hall. Natalia was so excited she jumped up and down and hugged her Dad’s legs, then ran to hug her baby brother! On the morning of the party, she got up very early and dressed herself in her best party clothes then went to wake her Mum and Dad.
Unfortunately, they made her change into her day clothes as the party was in the afternoon. Natalia was not happy and did not want to eat her breakfast. Mum reminded her that she should be good and think about meeting new friends to play with at the party. Natalia then felt happy and wished and wished time would fly by.
Eventually it was time so Mum and baby brother and Natalia dressed and went to catch the bus. She politely said “Hola” to the bus driver and he said “Hola” back. They got off at the right bus stop and walked round the block to the entrance of the community hall where they gave their names in. They were shown into the large hall where there were so many people. Natalia felt shy and sat with her Mum and baby brother for a while.
After a while, Natalia decided to go and see the long table at the end of the room where there were lots of exciting things to eat. She told her Mum she was going. Mum said she would watch her. As Natalia walked slowly down the long table looking, a little girl came up to her and said, “Hello, my name is Amelia. I am new here. We are moving here from my old town.” She then said the same sentence in Spanish. Natalia was very excited, she said, “Hola, I only speak English and I am new here too. Is that Spanish you speak?”
The two girls were very happy to make friends with each other and had a lovely afternoon playing together, sharing the lovely, tasty food at the party. They were sad to part company at the end of the day. Natalia hoped they would meet up again one day. That night, she made a wish at the stars she could see out her window.
The next morning, Natalia looked out her window at the square below. There was so much hustle and bustle going on. A moving lorry was backing up and some men were carrying furniture into the foyer in her block of flats. Mum said, “Let’s go out to buy some breakfast pastries.” Natalia was curious to go out and see what was going on. As they were leaving their flat, they saw Amelia standing in the doorway of the flat on their floor. Amelia was moving in next door!
That Thanksgiving the two families got together; the first of many times when Natalia and Amelia could play together. When it was time for Natalia to give her thanks, she said, “I say thanks for my family, our health and our new friends; let’s eat.” She then said some new Spanish words she had learnt, “Muchas gracias.” And she and Amelia started giggling and giggling.
Author Marga Ben
