Strangers under Red Umbrellas

Jutros sam na Dolcu kupovala jagode kad me je netko na polomljenom hrvatskom pitao gdje se prodaje svježi sir i vrhnje.

This morning at Dolac I was buying strawberries when someone, in broken Croatian, asked me where fresh cheese and cream are sold.

Okrenula sam se i vidjela mladića s mapom u ruci i širokim osmijehom.

I turned around and saw a young man with a map in his hand and a wide smile.

Rekao je da se zove Diego i da je iz Perua, te da je u Zagrebu prvi put.

He said his name was Diego and that he was from Peru, and that he was in Zagreb for the first time.

Odvela sam ga do štanda žene koja uvijek ima najbolji sir, a ona mu je strpljivo objasnila razliku između svježeg i tvrdog.

I took him to the stall of the woman who always has the best cheese, and she patiently explained to him the difference between fresh and hard cheese.

Dok smo čekali kusur, ispričao mi je da putuje vlakom kroz Balkan jer želi upoznati običaje, ali i naučiti kuhati jednostavna domaća jela.

While we were waiting for change, he told me that he was traveling by train through the Balkans because he wants to get to know the customs and also learn to cook simple homemade dishes.

Smijali smo se kad je rekao da mu "vrhnje" zvuči kao ime broda, pa sam ga pozvala na kavu kod katedrale da mu pokažem kako se stvarno pije.

We laughed when he said that "vrhnje" sounds to him like the name of a boat, so I invited him for coffee by the cathedral to show him how we really drink it.

Na suncu i uz laganu gužvu, pričali smo o Andama i o Jadranu, i shvatili da nam je more jednako važno, premda ga on gleda s druge strane svijeta.

In the sun and amid a light crowd, we talked about the Andes and the Adriatic, and realized that the sea matters to us equally, even though he looks at it from the other side of the world.

Ispalo je da voli nogomet, pa smo razmijenili brojeve i dogovorili se da idemo na utakmicu Dinama ako stigne sljedeći tjedan.

It turned out he loves football, so we exchanged numbers and agreed to go to a Dinamo match if he makes it next week.

Prije nego što smo se rastali, kupio je buketić peršina jer je čuo da Hrvati njime posipaju gotovo sve, a ja sam mu pokazala kako se cjenkati bez uvrede.

Before we parted, he bought a small bunch of parsley because he had heard that Croatians sprinkle almost everything with it, and I showed him how to haggle without offending anyone.

Kad mi je mahnuo i nestao među crvenim suncobranima, pomislila sam kako je lijepo kad se svijet malo smanji, samo zato što nekome pokažeš put do sira.

When he waved to me and disappeared among the red umbrellas, I thought how nice it is when the world gets a little smaller, just because you show someone the way to the cheese.