When people find out that I'm from New Zealand, I generally get asked a few questions about the country and culture, and I love that. I'm immensely proud to be a Kiwi so telling people about where I come from is a favourite pastime.
Most questions are predictable, like the ones about Lord of the Rings (yes, I did know people involved in the trilogy) and Xena: Warrior Princess (yes, it really is as green as in the series), or the ones about the weather (yes, you should pack for all four seasons and expect them all to come at you in the same day regardless of the time of year). Some are a bit dafter, but still easy to handle (no, riding on whales isn't common but yes, I have been swimming with dolphins).
Today, I got one which absolutely took the cake ...
"Do you speak English?"
Ummm ... no. I don't.
You have a chip inserted in your brain which automagically translates everything I say in to a language you can understand. The guy next to you thinks I'm speaking in Ket.
Idiot.
Comments (4)
I was asked (by a taxi driver) if we had power and televisions. When I said yes, he then ran through a list of famous people asking me if I knew who they where "Have you heard of Oprah? what about Micheal Jordan?"
Guess some people think you are from another plant not another Country, I do realize that we tend to forget other Countrys do not have Thanksgiving and some things we do/have but darn if you are talking to someone ya think they never that you were speaking English , just wait till you talk to a Texans and you will think we have murdered the language yep I have had people tell me that. WELCOME
LOVE-LIGHT-STARWOLF
LOL Starwolf. Thank you for the welcome, but I don't think we can blame Texans for murdering the language!
I honestly don't think it's a stretch for people to assume foreigners don't speak English as their fist language. I just found it hilarious that I spent 5 minutes talking to this guy before he asked if I spoke English.
I have been asked about the Thanksgiving thing though, more than a few times. Apparently there's more than a couple of Pilgrim Rocks.
Deevaa, I'm gearing up for a 'world famous in America' post! :)
I like harassing the New Zealander I'm seeing about various myths I made up in my head. "What d'you mean, New Zealander's have spleens? I thought you kept your gold there..."