So in English I often start sentences with the word 'so'. Often I do this when beginning an explanation, but there are heaps of other uses too, like when telling a story or when expecting an answer from somebody.
An example I just read was:
'So a friend of mine...'
Other uses are
So, how is your report going?
So the way it works is...
Are there similar ways of expressing this in Spanish? I understand there might not be an equivalent in Spanish but is there anything similar?