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Pass the spirit, please
Community Voices
| Sunday, Apr 6 2008 7:07 PM
Last Updated: Sunday, Apr 6 2008 7:08 PM
I frequently have lunch at the Noriega Hotel on Sumner Street.
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The family-style seating, historic atmosphere and likelihood of meeting interesting people have kept me coming back for over 20 years.
A dining experience last month was exceptional! I was seated next to a couple from Austria that is vacationing in California.
Since I am German, I naturally struck up a conversation in our native language. They read about the Noriega Hotel in a guidebook and thought it would be an interesting place for lunch, while traveling from Death Valley to Sequoia National Park.
They asked many questions about the Basque people, about the Basque food and about Bakersfield's history.
It just so happened that a Basque couple seated across from us had all the answers. But they spoke mostly Basque, along with some heavily accented English.
A gentleman next to them was born in the United States, raised in Mexico, has French relatives and spoke multiple languages.
In no time we were all conversing, translating and getting in touch with our common humanity in four languages.
Bernadette, our waitress, is from the French side of the Pyrenees, so naturally when she joined our conversation, French was added to the mix. It turns out the Austrian couple also spoke a little French and had visited Bernadette's home town.
I thank God for this kind of open community atmosphere, loving spirit and enjoyment of life. In German we call it gemutlichkiet.
The word is hard to say and it doesn't translate very well, but you can certainly experience it at the Noriega Hotel.
Roland Burkert of Bakersfield is a consultant specializing in solid waste and management issues.