Highway blues

When I first came to this country I arrived in beautiful Miami. In Miami you get to see all kinds of nationalities, especially from Latin American countries. When I started school people would ask where I was from. I would say Bolivia and they knew the whereabouts of the country. I knew theirs and life was good. Then we move to Wisconsin.

Bad move right? Well, pops found a good job here and we moved. When I started school (6th grade) in Wisconsin, the kids would notice my accent and would ask where I was from. I would say "I'm from Bolivia" and these were their responses:

1. What state is that in?

2. Is that in northern Wisconsin?

3. Huh?

4. I bet there's no electricity there.

5. Do you have TV's there?

6. (one of my favorites) Is that in Africa? (obviously not everyone in Africa isn't black but damn, I'm not that dark?)

They're only in sixth grade right? Give them a break right? HELL NO. I was in sixth grade and in fourth grade I knew the capitals of most of the countries (the main ones that is, shit I couldn't tell you the capital of Djibouti (eventhough that is a new country, you get the point)).

So I would have to educate their ignorant asses. I would tell them where it is and how we got here. It was an nine hour flight, but that's not what I told them. These kids thought we came on a boat. They must have thought that Ellis island was still in operation. Anyway, I told them we came in the Intercontinental Highway.

I would tell them that it's a highway that stretches from the tip of Argentina to the US. I would tell them, "it looks just like the freeway here, we drove in my dad's Range Rover and took us a month to get here. " Some of them reacted in amazement, others reacted as if they knew what I was talking about. One even answered "yeah I heard about that, I also heard that it's a crappy freeway and the countries can't afford it." Rich bitch I ought to smack your ass.

It's crazy how ignorant some of these kids were. But it goes on to show that Americans aren't concerned about what happens outside their walls. Even poor countries like Bolivia take the time to teach about other countries and what happens outside our borders.

Goldnugget: when someone says something ignorant, just say something that makes them look even more ignorant than they are, that should make them feel good later when they tell someone else about the Intercontinental Highway.