Sebastián: ¡Hola de nuevo! We’re back with another episode of Un día en español. Since we’re getting close to the end of the season, how about a little challenge?

Today’s storyteller is going to use a lot of verbs in the past tense, but don’t worry, you don’t need to be an expert to listen to this episode. If you haven’t learned the past tense before, you can use this as a chance to familiarize yourself with the sound of the verbs – you should be able to recognize most of them if you’ve seen them in the present tense. And of course, I’ll be here to help you along the way, too. On top of that, you can always rewind and listen again and read along with the transcript!

Today we’re meeting Silvia, from Andalucía, who’s going to tell us about a turning point she reached very early in her life, an event that’s helped her to remember to live each day to the fullest! Ready to hear her story? ¡Escuchemos a Silvia!

Silvia: ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? Soy Silvia y soy de Andalucía, en el sur de España. Andalucía es un lugar famoso por su buen tiempo, su comida deliciosa, sus playas hermosas y una historia muy rica y diversa.

Sebastián: Silvia comes from beautiful Andalucía, in the south of Spain. It’s famous for its good weather, delicious food, beautiful beaches and a very rich and diverse history. You’ll also probably notice that Silvia doesn’t pronounce the “-s” in some words. She’s not forgetting them, it’s just a feature of the Andalusian accent. Listen closely and see if you can pick some of those words out! Today she wants to tell us about “un momento muy importante”, a very important moment, something that “pasó”, happened, many years ago, “cuando Silvia era una niña”, when Silvia was a little girl. But in order to do that, we have to go all the way back to “mil novecientos noventa y uno”, 1991.

Silvia: Hoy quiero hablar de un momento muy importante en mi vida. Es algo que pasó hace muchos años, en 1991, cuando yo era una niña.

Sebastián: So what happened to Silvia? Well, it’s something that many of us can probably relate to, the moment in our lives when we have a revelation: we are not immortal, “no somos inmortales”. This realization is often really shocking, and even more so when you’re still a child.

Silvia: En algún momento de nuestra vida, todas las personas tenemos una revelación: no somos inmortales. Esta revelación puede ser muy impactante, especialmente cuando somos niñas y niños.

Sebastián: In the summer of 1991, Silvia was a six-year-old girl, and for some reason that she can’t really explain, she already “pensaba mucho”, thought a lot, about her existence. Or rather, she “pensaba mucho” about the possibility of not existing anymore, “no existir más”. That’s a pretty heavy thing to ponder when you’re just a child… but this “era una gran preocupación”, was a big worry for her.

Silvia: En el verano de 1991, yo era una niña de seis años. No sé por qué, pero yo con seis años pensaba mucho en mi existencia. O, mejor dicho, pensaba mucho en la posibilidad de no existir más. Y esta idea era una gran preocupación para mí.

Sebastián: Silvia’s dad was more than aware of his daughter’s worries, so to reassure her, he used to tell her a story about a magic potion, “contaba una historia sobre una poción mágica”. And what did this “poción” do? Well, he told her that with this potion, it was possible to become immortal! “Él era y aún es médico”, he was and still is a doctor, and told her that the potion “estaba en su consulta”, was in his doctor’s office. What a lucky coincidence, right?

Silvia: Mi padre me contaba una historia sobre una poción mágica. Con esta poción era posible ser inmortal. Él era y aún es médico. Y me contaba que esta poción estaba en su consulta. Qué suerte, ¿no?

Sebastián: So that’s that, right? Problem solved! Well, actually, “la verdad es”, the truth is, Silvia tells us, that the story “no me tranquilizaba”, didn’t reassure me. But why? Because the expression on her dad’s face, “cara”, wasn’t very sincere. “¿Estaba mintiendo?” Was he lying?

Silvia: La verdad es que esa historia de mi padre no me tranquilizaba porque la expresión en la cara de mi padre no era muy sincera. ¿Estaba mintiendo?

Sebastián: Hold that thought, we’ll come back to the potion a bit later. So, every afternoon, after school, like many kids from Spain, she would eat her “merienda”. And what is “merienda”? It’s a snack that kids – and some adults – have between lunch and dinner in Spain. In Silvia’s case, her mom usually “preparaba bocadillos deliciosos”, prepared delicious “bocadillos”, which are a kind of baguette sandwich. Then, they would sit together in their “salón”, living room. Silvia says, “veíamos una serie”, we used to watch a series from Canada called Tropical Heat. Ring any bells? Well, in the show, the main character, Nick Slaughter, is a private detective living in a resort town in Florida, and in each episode he solves a different crime.

Silvia: Todas las tardes, después de la escuela, merendaba en el salón con mi madre. Normalmente, ella me preparaba bocadillos deliciosos y juntas veíamos una serie de Canadá: Tropical Heat, con el famoso detective Nick Slaughter.

Sebastián: In Spain and Latin America, series in English are “dobladas”, or dubbed, into Spanish. So, at the beginning of each episode of Tropical Heat, a narrator’s voice would say “el título del episodio”, the episode title, in Spanish.

Silvia: Las series en inglés en España y América Latina están dobladas al español. En Tropical Heat, un narrador decía siempre el título del episodio en español.

Sebastián: On an afternoon like any other, Silvia “estaba sentada”, was sitting next to her “madre” at “merienda” time while Tropical Heat was on TV. Silvia “comía”, was eating, her “bocadillo” when the voice of the narrator, “dijo”, said, the name of the episode… and it set Silvia off: “La muerte es una playa”, Death is a beach. What set her off was the word “muerte”, death.

Silvia: Un día estaba sentada con mi madre en el salón a la hora de la merienda. Tropical Heat estaba en la televisión. Mientras yo comía mi bocadillo, el narrador dijo el nombre del episodio: “La muerte es una playa”.

Sebastián: We’re already well aware of Silvia’s existential problems at six years old, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that when she heard the title, she just had to ask her mom about her big “preocupación”.

Silvia: Cuando escuché el título, le pregunté a mi madre sobre mi gran preocupación:

Silvia: –Mamá, ¿tú y yo nos vamos a morir?

Mamá: –Sí, hija, como todo el mundo.

Sebastián: Little Silvia asked her mom: “¿tú y yo nos vamos a morir?” Are you and I going to die? And Silvia’s mom, well, she decided not to sugar-coat it and told her that it’s something that happens to everyone. But… what about “la poción”?

Silvia: –Pero ¿y la poción para ser inmortal?

Mamá: –¿La poción? ¿Qué poción, cariño?

Silvia: –¿No hay una poción para ser inmortal?

Mamá: –Creo que no. Pero… ahora no tienes que pensar en esas cosas. Eso va a pasar dentro de mucho tiempo.

Sebastián: Poor Silvia. Her mom tells her that she doesn’t think the potion exists, but that she shouldn’t “pensar en esas cosas”, think about those things, right now. She reassures her that it’s going to “pasar dentro de mucho tiempo”, happen in a long time. As you can probably imagine, this doesn’t do much to calm Silvia down, who, in shock, dropped the “bocadillo” and started to “llorar desconsoladamente”, cry inconsolably. She still remembers “el miedo y la decepción”, the fear and the disappointment, of that moment.

Silvia: Entonces, solté mi bocadillo y empecé a llorar desconsoladamente. Recuerdo el miedo y la decepción de aquel momento.

Sebastián: However, her “tristeza”, her sadness, only lasted for about as long as the opening scene of Tropical Heat. Then the theme song started. Marimbas, “timbales”, electric guitars and happy lyrics. The vibe was the exact opposite of what Silvia was feeling!

Silvia: Pero mi tristeza duró exactamente los mismos minutos que la introducción del episodio. Entonces, empezó la melodía de la serie: marimbas, timbales, guitarras eléctricas y la letra de la canción.

Sebastián: So, Tropical Heat’s theme song did what neither her dad’s white lie nor her mom’s truth could: “tranquilizar a Silvia”. “Agarré el bocadillo y pude seguir con mi vida”, she says, I grabbed the “bocadillo” and could go on with my life – only now, “con una mentalidad diferente”, with a different mindset.

Silvia: La música de la serie me tranquilizó. Agarré el bocadillo y pude seguir con mi vida con una mentalidad diferente.

Sebastián: This experience had such an impact on Silvia that “a día de hoy”, nowadays, a photo of Nick Slaughter hangs on her living room wall. His picture reminds Silvia that “nada es para siempre”, nothing lasts forever. And that’s why it’s important to “disfrutar el momento”, enjoy the moment.

Silvia: A día de hoy tengo una fotografía del protagonista de la serie, Nick Slaughter, en la pared de mi salón. Su foto me recuerda que nada es para siempre. Y, por eso, es importante disfrutar del momento.

Sebastián: Now, I for one have a lot of memories of TV shows and theme songs from when I was a kid, but I’m not sure if I ever had as profound of an experience as Silvia. Who would have thought that a simple theme song from a 90s TV show could have such a lasting impact? And you? What’s your reminder to live life to the fullest?

So that’s our story for today! I hope you got a kick out of it, and learned a few new words along the way! Remember, you can always go back and listen again, using the transcript if that helps. Or, if you want a challenge, you can try the Spanish-only version of the story. As usual, you can find everything over at babbel.com/podcasts. Thanks for listening, ¡y hasta pronto!