BLAH.

I'm feeling quite BLAH tonight.  I'm home alone, which doesn't help.  I talked to Wayne on the phone, but didnt' feel like going heavy or negative (esp since it's not regarding him)... plus he's had some beers, ok, several (lol) so why be a buzz kill?

Today at work, I decided to be the team player.  The one that doesn't say "that's not my job".  The one answering phones, scheduling appointments..doing the things NOT in my job description, but since Friday someone quit with no notice, I felt like stepping up and being a good team player would improve overall morale.  (yeah, I do have those days where I give 200%... few and far between..but they DO occur...lol).  However, I learned how ignorant people can be.

Let me do a quick catch up just in case someone is joining late in the blog.

1.  I am an American.
2.  I am living in Australia.
3.  I am a nurse with 2 degrees.  Although I may seem goofy and retarded at times, deep down, I am truly a well educated person.  Not trying to brag, but I DO have TWO degrees and 12 YEARS of medical experience to back my shit up.

Several times today people couldn't understand me.  Typically, I slow down my speed of speech when this happens.  I do NOT speak louder.. people can't understand what I'm saying doesn't mean they are deaf.  This TYPICALLY solves the problems.  HOWEVER.  Today, my patience was tried....

Me "Good afternoon ____________ (the name of my job), may I help you?"
retard "umm.. hello?"
me "This is April, may I help you?"
retard "ummmm.... what language are you speaking?"
me "I'm sorry?  I am speaking English?  May I help you?"
retard "no, are you speaking Canadian or American?  I can't understand you!!!"  (add a rude tone, because they did!!)

Ok, people.  If you are gonna be an asshole, keep in mind, American or Canadian would be an ACCENT.  ENGLISH is the language.  Thank you.

A couple hours later, in the middle of a conversation...

retard #2 "can I get your name?"
me "Sure.  My name is April"
retard #2 "can you spell that?"
me "Certainly.  A-P-R-I-L"
retard #2 "oh, I couldn't understand.  What language do you speak?"


A few hours later, I am attempting to schedule a new patient, and I am totally not understanding the spelling of their surname (American pals, surname is the last name.. if you ask someone their "last name" here, you will get looked at as if you have worms crawling out your nose!).   The person gets frustrated, and attempts to hang up on me, but before hanging up, she says "I'm not gonna waste my time talking to a foreigner!!"

REALLY People????

There are times that this move is totally over whelming, and today was one of those days.  I seem to get one of two responses from my accent.  #1 is the above uneducated response.  The other is a captivated audience who LOVES to hear me talk.  This one occurs on a daily basis, and it still causes me to blush....lol.

And don't get me wrong..   I encounter probably 50-100 people every day.  Male and female... all ages.  As young as 2 months, as old as 100+.  Most are usually so very nice and friendly.  In general Australians are amazingly nice and warm people, and add to the reason that I simply LOVE living here and working here with the general public.

But... there is a BUT.....

But......on the days where I get the above situations over and over, it really annoys me, and overwhelms me at the same time.  I'm 31.  I'm very set in my ways, and not sure I will ever obtain an "Aussie accent"  (and people, it's an ACCENT, not a LANGUAGE!)  At the end of the day, I am NOT speaking a different language.  Sure, in America "rooting" means cheering, and here it means to have sex... but I've well learned those things and what I'm saying just SOUNDS different than the Aussie "g'day mate" accent.  I just don't get the ignorance of people sometimes.

I'm making friends, but none so far who I feel like I can just ring up to vent about the above things.  Sometimes I feel so very alone in a strange country, with new people, and they simply don't understand me... LITERALLY.

I can't believe that I've already been here over 7 months, and make no mistake, I'm so happy to be here.  I love Wayne so much, and love to "watch" our relationship blossom as it has.  On Monday, I had this sudden realisation that I loved him so much more than I ever imagined possible.  I remember the exact moment.  It's crazy.  I've never been so in love with someone, or felt so loved...ever.  And if you know much about me, you know how big it is for me to say this.  So, when I vent about things that annoy me with the transition, please don't read more to the gripping than exactly what I am griping about.  There are no hidden messages here.  I'm pretty straight forward.

Anyways, I'm heading off to bed... Thanks for letting me vent....

I'm ending today as Ellen does on every show..

"be kind to one another"