I am sorry for those of you who are bored by posts in which I talk about my different nationalities which I claim as my own. If this describes you, stop reading now.
Today I told my taxi driver that I was from Iceland. It was evening and I was coming home from the University by myself, and I didn't want him to know I spoke English so I could pretend not to understand him. And remember how it is more dangerous to be an American girl because of the Green Card issue?
Anyway, so when my taxi driver asked me where I was from, I said Iceland. I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I finally decided on Iceland as my country of origin--after all, who knows anything about Iceland? No one really knows what they look like, or what language they speak, or whatever, except for the people in Iceland and surrounding countries. With this country, I knew I would be safe.
It worked. As soon as I said "Icelandia," my taxi driver said "oh" and left it at that. He was so surprised, he didn't even say "Welcome!"
I tried to ignore the taxi driver for most of the ride, which was a lot easier because I pretended I didn't understand any of his English--because I didn't speak it, remember?--and that I didn't understand very much Arabic. He finally asked if I would speak some English, when I told him (in Arabic)--"I don't really speak English. I speak Icelandic."
He was so shocked that I think he missed that last part. (He obviously didn't know his geography, because he asked where in America Iceland was. I told him it wasn't in America.) He asked what language they speak in Iceland--French?
I said no, Icelandic.
He kept asking--is Icelandic like English? I said no, it is like Denmark or Sweden. And he kept asking me if I knew how to translate certain Arabic things into English!
I don't speak English, remember? I speak Icelandic!
It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing. Next time I come here, I am definitely coming with a man--but until then, Icelandic it is.
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7 comments:
Hvernig gengur?
Actually, they don't use the Roman alphabet in Iceland. I think it's more like curly cues. The script actually looks somewhat the same type as Arabic...I think.
Chicken Dust...get a clue! :)
That is definitely the transliteration of it. Thanks for the pointer, though.
Is that supposed to be a friendly reminder? Because I think he is supposed to encourage friendliness. At least, if I remember correctly that is one of the attributes of Christ.
I'm sorry. I thought with the :) you would see I was just joking...I wasn't trying to be unfriendly!
What is this, my blog is now a forum for sibling arguments? :) (Does the smiley face help?)
I thought loved it. I'm sure there's a comment somewhere in here about how it just makes you laugh, or something to that effect. :) Is this our secret sign or something? Like, "Hi! we're the GGR's. Show us your sign, brother."
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