Do You Speak English?
I am standing outside the boarding gate at LAX (read : Los Angeles International Airport). I am numb and buzzed from 19 hours with no sleep, flying in from Hong Kong. I am waiting for the onward flight to Boston.
I am stiff and sore and the patent leather heels I wore from Hong Kong are pinching my toes. A girl with a strong Valley accent sidles up next to me.
"Hey, is that the Harry Potter book?"
"Yes it is."
"Wow. My mom queued up overnight to get that when it went on sale."
I turned and looked, she was chewing gum and snapping it, wearing a baby blue hooded sweater and jeans and running shoes, her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a complex ponytail. Her pale face and inquisitive constantly roaming eyes were a bit disconcerting, but one can tell she's a teenager with loads of energy.
"I hope it was worth it!" I replied.
"I dunno. You can ask her. MOOOOOMMM!!" she turns and yells, and a woman 2 feet away looks up unperturbed. She walks over, dressed in the XXXXX Airlines uniform. Ah, she is ground staff.
"Mom! She's got the Harry Potter book, she's still reading it." The girl swerves around, and pokes a finger in my general direction. "You're flying to Boston, right? Are you from LA?"
"No, I'm from Singapore, but I work in Hong Kong now. Are you flying somewhere?"
"Yeah, I'm going to see my dad in Boston." The older woman stood there, her eyes surveying the people congregated around the waiting area, clearly bored.
"Mom, she's from Singapore. So they read Harry Potter there too."
The woman looks over at me, then at her daughter. "Honey, they probably use it to practice their English."
Then she looks at me, still in my suit, business laptop case, high heels, carrying a blackberry.
She then opens her mouth and says slowly, one syllable exaggeratedly drawn out at a time -- "DO-YOU-SPEAK-ENG-GLISH?"
Welcome back to America.
I am stiff and sore and the patent leather heels I wore from Hong Kong are pinching my toes. A girl with a strong Valley accent sidles up next to me.
"Hey, is that the Harry Potter book?"
"Yes it is."
"Wow. My mom queued up overnight to get that when it went on sale."
I turned and looked, she was chewing gum and snapping it, wearing a baby blue hooded sweater and jeans and running shoes, her dirty blonde hair pulled back into a complex ponytail. Her pale face and inquisitive constantly roaming eyes were a bit disconcerting, but one can tell she's a teenager with loads of energy.
"I hope it was worth it!" I replied.
"I dunno. You can ask her. MOOOOOMMM!!" she turns and yells, and a woman 2 feet away looks up unperturbed. She walks over, dressed in the XXXXX Airlines uniform. Ah, she is ground staff.
"Mom! She's got the Harry Potter book, she's still reading it." The girl swerves around, and pokes a finger in my general direction. "You're flying to Boston, right? Are you from LA?"
"No, I'm from Singapore, but I work in Hong Kong now. Are you flying somewhere?"
"Yeah, I'm going to see my dad in Boston." The older woman stood there, her eyes surveying the people congregated around the waiting area, clearly bored.
"Mom, she's from Singapore. So they read Harry Potter there too."
The woman looks over at me, then at her daughter. "Honey, they probably use it to practice their English."
Then she looks at me, still in my suit, business laptop case, high heels, carrying a blackberry.
She then opens her mouth and says slowly, one syllable exaggeratedly drawn out at a time -- "DO-YOU-SPEAK-ENG-GLISH?"
Welcome back to America.
posted by tygertyger at 2:44 PM
2 Comments:
I shudder every time I'm past the 49th. God bless the ignorant.
ahhh...yah, this is america...
while still a student there, the americans would speak to me in a loud, slowly tone. example: H-O-W A-R-E Y-O-U?, U S-P-E-A-K G-O-O-D E-N-G-L-I-S-H...D-O U K-N-O-W W-H-A-T I A-M T-R-Y-I-N-G T-O S-A-Y
hah, like i am from somewhere ulu.
at first, kinda of offended but then, oh well, some of the americans dun even know where is sinagpore. (tot it is a ulu place in china!)
hahaha...=)
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