When we returned to the States after living in Germany for 4 years, you know, it was kind of nice to go to out in public and hear the delightful sound of the English language being spoken by everyone around us. It was nice to go to the book store and see all the titles and books printed in English, my language. Go into the store and be able to talk to the clerks without having to ask sheepishly, "Sir do you speak English?" The road signs pointed us along the way, all in English. Ahhh...back in my own territory. It felt good to be home.
And then I come out to Monterey, California for a year to attend grad school.
1. Half the damn radio stations are in Spanish playing Mexican music.
2. Everything at the store--from Charmin Xtra Soft to Cheerios to Tide have product labels printed in English and Spanish!
3. Almost everywhere I go around here, people are speaking in Spanish to each other! I want to go up them and yell "Hey dammit! We speak ENGLISH in this country!!"
4. I go into Hollywood video to rent some DVDs and see two entire racks devoted to movies in Spanish! I rent one movie from the new releases rack, get home and find it is in Spanish and only the subtitles are in English!
5. Bathroom signs at the gas station say "Men" and "Women" as well as "Senior" and "Senorita"
6. Billboards are in English or Spanish!
7. Even the credit card receipt at Target is English and Spanish!
8. I get 80 cable channels; 15 of them are in Spanish!!
9. When roofing contractors came to put a new roof on the house I'm renting here, only the foreman could speak English (and very broken English at that). Mexican music filled the air as they pounded their nails for 2 glorious days (thank God I had my camper that weekend!).
I'm not feeling so much at home anymore...
I could continue on and on but tired of typing...
Last time I checked, English was still our official language and this just sucks. I felt more at home in Stuttgart, Germany than I do here! What's happening to my good old US of A?
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