No Habla Espanol! Se habla English only.

It seems like everyone is going on vacation this weekend. I guess one great thing is that I don't have to work on the 4th but still get paid for it. :) Well the countdown until our vacation is 14 days. It is time for the yearly Cooper family Jackson Hole camping trip. We have been going every year since I can remember. We stay about 30 minutes north of Jackson Hole in Gros Ventre camp ground. I am so looking forward to it. I had to get a crown put on at the dentist today and my tooth is now killing me! I hope it gets feeling better.

On Sunday we went out to my parents' house and celebrated Justin's (my oldest nephew) 11th birthday. I can't believe that 11 years ago, he was born. He is getting so grown up. He is going into 6th grade this fall. It makes me worried to think that he will be exposed to some not great things that teenagers face. I've known people around my age that began smoking marijuana (not myself, of course) or experimenting with other drugs or alcohol at the age of 12! Every night we pray that our neices and nephews stay as innocent for as long as possible in this crazy messed up world. I can only hope and pray that he chooses good friends. I know being raised by great parents helps (which he has) but even they cannot make their children make the correct choices. I really think it comes down to friends and peer pressure. If you hang out with people that have the same standards as you, then more than likely it will be easier to be able to say no because it won't be around you in the first place.

I've seen drugs mess up people so much in their lives. People my age were in trouble with the law all of the time. One kid I went to school with got arrested for dealing meth and other drugs after we graduated and was sentenced to six years in prison. Just think how that will affect him for the rest of his life. When he does get out, it would be really hard to change and not go back to the same problems he had before. Plus it is really hard to get a job after they get out of prison.

I had one of the toughest calls today at work. Some people get angry and yell and that is really hard, but today I received a call from a lady that could hardly speak any english. Her last name was spanish but her accent seemed asian. Needless to say, a five minute call turned out to be 30 minutes. She couldn't understand me and I sure couldn't understand her. I kept trying to get an account number from her which is on the bill they have and that is the easiest way to look up a customer. She didn't seem to understand that she just told me the account holder's name (her husband?) and the address she lives at. I couldn't even understand what city she lived in. She kept saying, "Ok lady. Jose So-and-so no more. no more. Name is Miriam. My account Miriam." I don't know if Jose died, or moved out of the apartment or what. She wanted to put the account into her name instead of Jose's. I have to receive permission from her leasing office at the property she lives at before I can change it so I placed her on hold and contacted the leasing office. They did say her name was on the lease and so I could change it. When I got back on the phone with Miriam she said again, "Ok lady. Jose no more. Account number ie 101111111." I can't remember the actual account number and for secure purposes, did not list the actual account. So by that time I had already pulled up her account and told her I could change it. The call was eventually finished. But I was so frustrated from it because it just took so much time for something that would really have taken 5 minutes.

I cannot judge because I have never been in these people's shoes that speak another language as their primary and do not know english very well at all. I just feel that America is very accomadating to people here more so than any other country because they have almost everything available in Spanish which is the next biggest language spoken here next to English. Maybe that is why America is so great. I guess I just feel that if I was to move and live in France say for the rest of my life, I would make the hardest effort to learn the language and speak it there. I just think people come here illegally and expect everyone to accomadate them to make us speak their native tongue and neglect to learn the native language themselves. Now it is hard to obtain some jobs because they are now requiring you to be bilingual, to speak two languages. Many jobs I have wanted to apply for require this, I don't think that is fair. I live in the United States of America. The national language is English. I believe that employers should offer some incentive if a person does speak two languages, like a little bit higher pay, but to make it mandatory for a job, that is just sad.

I really think it is sad that these people's children have to make the calls to pay their parents' bills because they are the only ones that know English and not their parents. What kind of parenting is that? Seriously I have taken calls from children that sound like they are six or seven years old. Really, come on people. At work, we do have about 10 people that speak Spanish and so our customers can call in and speak to someone in spanish, but I just feel like this is hindering and not helping these people become adapted and inclined to learn English in the USA.

I know this country was founded by immigrants from different places in Europe and many languages were spoken here at first. So over two hundred years later, it has not still had many languages, just English. My forefathers adapted. They learned English. I know people legally immigrated through the 1920s (by large numbers) to America and it seems like even back 90 years, it was either sink or swim. These emigrants in the 1920s learned English. Now it is different. The people that come here legally seem to make the effort to adapt and learn English, I think they really do. It seems like those illegally here do not. That is just my two cents worth on that.