Categories

Recent Entries
Archives

November 17, 2005

My Fellow Brethren...

Every Tuesday and Thursday I crawl out of bed at 6am and get ready for work. I have to take a bus a short distance outside of the city limits and a metro before that. I spend about an hour commuting each way. I can´t believe I am doing it. I also can´t believe I haven´t woken up some mornings and just said "fuck it", rolled over and went back to bed. YET!! It is surprisingly cold that time of the day and my bed is unsurprisingly warm. Yet, for 2 months I have managed to do it. I am proud of myself even if any of you other workaholics aren´t. How I managed to wake up for high school every day is beyond me, though having my mom pour water on me probably helped.

But, what is really eye-opening about my commute is who the other people commuting with me are. There are a few English teachers, mostly others from my school going to the same office park. But, the overwhelming majority of my fellow commuters are fellow illegal immigrants. The only difference happens to be where they hail from. Most are from North Africa and the rest are from Latin America. You should see the line for the bus. I almost got knocked over by some short, stubby woman from Ghana this morning. She now has two less teeth (7 total) and 15 more stitches). Displays of force early serve to emphasize your point.

Now, the Spanish (warning - broad generalization to follow) do not particularly care for either of those demographics. There are exceptions like my friend Guillermo who is an afro-american rapper born in a Spanish guy´s body. But, he is the exception, not the rule.

When I realized all this I started really thinking more about it. DAMN, I am lucky. Because I was born an English speaker (in addition to my masterful control of the language and big vocabulary) I am able to work nearly anywhere I want. I complain about commuting an hour to go work in an office where I am treated with a level of respect far beyond what is deserved. I am asked if I would like coffee or food. People love to make small talk with me. I make a living, not a good one, but enough to live in a relatively nice flat, relatively centrally located and in a safe area.

Then, I think about what the other guys are doing. More often than not, they are travelling twice as long as I am to go to a job they hate and where they get treated like shit. Most of them are going to manual labor jobs like street cleaning. People ignore them. It is just like home. All the illegal immigrants do the backbreaking, shitty labor that we don´t want to do. They keep the economy running. Then, you have some ignorant moronic politician get on TV and talk about closing the border because these people are taking all our jobs. Assholes.

So, the next time you hear some idiotic windbag on Fox News talking about this throw something at the screen, yell at the top of your lungs and launch a tirade of profanity directed at the person nearest you...just like I do. BUT, next time you get pissed at some illegal immigrants always remember, that it ain´t easy on us white, college educated, middle class kids from suburban New Jersey...and German Jews didn´t have it any easier when they were kids.

Posted by KDuffy on November 17, 2005 11:06 AM
Category: Teaching English
Comments

Gracias Lorena! Si estoy in Coruña, te aviso. Si quieres ver los fotos, crear un "password". Es gratis!

Posted by: Kevin on November 21, 2005 07:29 AM

Hola Kevin , nada no hay manera. A toda la gente que recomendé tu blog se escuentra con esto

http://www.kodakgallery.com/AlbumNotFound.jsp

Incluso con password y todo. Es una pena. Espero que te los estés pasando bien aunque ahora ya no sé si ya estarás por Asia o por ahí adelante.

Posted by: Lorena on November 21, 2005 12:15 PM
Post a comment






Remember personal info?






Email this page
Email this entry to:


Your email address:


Message (optional):




Designed & Hosted by the BootsnAll Travel Network