Foreign Exchange

Being a teenager means that you're going to meet some people that surprise you. One of the weirdest things I think, is when you see people who look like normal (as in American) and then they have a foreign accent, like woah, where'd that come from.

Here's the thing, if you're going to go to another country, you need to know their language. It's rude and unbecoming for you to assume that everyone speaks your language. People shouldn't have to accommodate you and your foreign self in their own country. That's just plain lazy. So my problem with Spanish, why is it on all the products we buy here in the US? Spanish speaking people should learn how to read and speak freaking English like the rest of us, no special treatment. It's ridiculous, how can you go to a different place and not speak the language, that's just absolutely ridiculous. My parents may be foreign, but in Ghana, English is the primary language, followed by the local dialects. It's not right to accommodate Spanish speaking peoples and not other languages, everyone in the US should know English and that should be the end of it. If you can't speak English, then you shouldn't live here. It sounds harsh, but that's just nonsense, minorities may or may not be taking over but who cares, this is America and we speak America. Learn the foreign exchange.



Yesterday, I went to McDonald's out here in Virginia, and it was quite possibly one of the funniest experiences of my entire life. So we're ordering our food, we pay and we're at the pick up window. The entire place is serviced by Latino people, which is perfectly fine, except that they barely spoke English. I'm talking broken English, minimal phrases, and accents so thick, you could smell the tacos and barrios in the air. We ordered a Cinnamon Roll and a Mango-Pineapple Smoothie, apparently they didn't have either, so they we wanted a parfait instead. They were like "No make smoothie - no parfait - you have apple, cookie, or sundae." It took three of them just to get us our order. When they didn't have what we ordered we just wanted our money back, and the lady at the window just refused. She was like "I won't do that, no money back." We were like WTE, and were literally geeking out. The heavy accents were so thick, it was like each word spoken hung in the air. I'm telling you, it's all about that foreign exchange.



My house phone is always ringing off the hook. There's a bajillion people calling our house looking for either one of my parents. I'm talking so often that we don't even answer the phone unless it's people we actually know/like or if our parents are actually home (which is rare). If it's desperate hospitals calling for my dad to come work for them (uhm, he already has 3 jobs) or even refer some of his medical comrades - straight to voicemail. And then the rest of the calls are people with thick Ghanaian accents calling asking to talk to Ma or Doctor. It's seriously so annoying that we answer the phone, and they just start talking, even though we're saying, "this is not my mom, or my dad is at work" - they just keep rambling on telling us their problems - apparently all our voices sound the same. The best ones are the people who only speak in Twi (our dialect) and I'll speak back to them in it, until I get tired of them not getting the point that no one they want to talk to is at home, I switch to English and cut the conversation short. Again, this America, I'm not going to extend myself more than I have to, to let you know my mother and father are out, learn to communicate and call back later. Done with this foreign exchange.



Being a teenager means that not everyone you meet will speak your language. They should, but they won't. One of the things I can't stand is when people make fun of accents. Like are you kidding, to everyone else you have that weird Midwest accent, or that Cali Swag, that Boston Talk or that Southern Drawl, so sit down and get over. Just because someone is a foreigner doesn't mean they can't speak English, you need to listen, it might be a little twisted up but at least their speaking your language, if you ever go there, you'd best do the same for them. Foreign exchange that.



My blog post question for the day is ... if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Uhm, I'd want to go down under to Australia and New Zealand, the girls are literally gorgeous, the people are super chill and it seems awesome.