Fascinating or Maybe Completely Normal

This morning in a bit of a migraine haze, I rode the bus to work late in the morning. I ended up sitting in front of two Asian people who were speaking Spanish. I found it fascinating! Asian people speaking Spanish - you don't encounter that everyday. I speak a bit of Spanish so I started listening in on their conversation. Turns out they don't know each other. She asked him about work. He works everyday. Later he asked "do you speak English?" She said no. He asked "Don't you find English necessary?" She said no. I was hooked! This wonderful older Asian woman lives in Hawaii and doesn't speak English but speaks Spanish fluently?! Fascinating! I tried to listen in on the rest of their conversation but I didn't pick up on much.

I got to work and started telling my co-workers this story. They already think I'm ridiculous so it was no surprise to them that the most exciting thing to happen to me recently was listening to Asian people speak Spanish.

One co-worked suggested they were Japanese and had come from a Spanish speaking region of South America that has a very large population of Japanese residents.

Another co-worker came by and asked if they were Filipino. I had to fess up that I really can't identify races of most Asians. I hate to say it but they all blend together. He says the Filipino language is Spanish-based. And then he told me the words for "work", "English", and "speak" are pretty much exactly the same as Spanish.

So, maybe I simply heard Fililpino people speaking their native language in Hawaii? Which of course is not unusual at all.

Bummer.