From the conversation with taxi drivers

I used the taxi five times during my stay in the US. I tried to chat with the taxi driver at every occasion. It was very interesting and they taught me a speckle of the history of the US. As to race, of these five drivers, three were black, one was white and one was Asian.

The driver whom I encountered for the first time in Atlanta was, I thought, African American. When I asked about his mother country I found he was from Nigeria. He said very joyously when I was leaving the car. “From now, I am going home to watch TV, the game of the World Cup. Today’s game is Ghana versus America. I have to cheer my team”.

I asked him out of curiosity, “Then, which team are you going to cheer for?”  “Of course, it’s quite natural, the country in Africa, Ghana, my neighbor country”. It turned out he has been living in the US for 15 years from the time he emigrated from Nigeria. I could understand his feeling.

The driver of the taxi, which I used next day, was from Haiti, a country in the Caribbean Sea. (It was the time after the football game in Germany, Brazil versus Japan, and Japan lost.) He said,” Japan was lucky to score the first point. But that irritated the Brazilian team and they played at the top of their effort. Actually, Japan was unlucky to have matched with Brazil, the champion of soccer. As for me, I don’t tend to cheer for team of some country. I would rather appreciate the technique of each team”.

The US, I wonder, if is a country of baseball and not of football. I have never seen a scene Americans cheer enthusiastically for their favorite football team. It seemed different from the case in the countries in Europe or in Latin America. <They are absolutely crazy over their home team. >

One more taxi driver who hinged my interests was the one who took me to the hotel from the airport in New Orleans. Apparently, he looked an Asian. I asked him about his home country with a close feeling. He first looked at me feeling the connection only with a little bit seriousness. After that. He said:

“After you finish your work here, you are going back to Japan where your families are waiting, aren’t you? That’s great. I envy you. I am from Vietnam. 30 years have passed since I came here. If I would say correctly, I fled from my native country and arrived here. I was serving as a soldier in South Vietnam military. South Vietnam was supported very strongly by the US military but we lost the war to North Vietnam eventually. Just after that, I had to flee from my country and seek refuge in the US, leaving all my family in Vietnam”.

“Oh! My English was rejected by telephone answering machine”

     This trip in the US was on my own and I felt confidence in my English to a certain extent. However, with the telephone conversation with the Airline company I had at the hotel, I lost almost the confidence completely. The telephone answering machine keeps repeating to me; “I can’t understand your English. I don’t get your English”.

     From the start, I had intended to buy a ticket from Atlanta to New Orleans in the US. It is the flight that connects the major cities. So I thought I could get one easily at any time.

     When I called Continental Airline, the same airline company from which I got the round trip ticket, the staff told me that I had to go to Huston first and then go back to New Orleans from there, because Huston is the Hub airport of Continental Airline. This means as though to go from Osaka to Nagoya I have to go to Tokyo first. I could not afford to waste such time and money. So I called the Delta Airline whose Hub airport was Atlanta.

     Just like Japanese telephone calls, answering machine also in Atlanta. Only after the third step, a customer will get an answer by the staff by dialing the number he has chosen.

When I dialed, the machine asked me. “From what city do you depart?”  I answered, “Atlanta”  “What is your destination?” The machine asked. I answered, “New Orleans”.

     Then what happened next! Can you imagine?

The answering machine said to me. “I couldn’t understand your English”. I repeated many times, trying to pronounce as correct and clearly as possible. In a short while after, the machine finally managed the situation and replied.

“Your departing city is Atlanta in Georgia?” “Your destination is New Orleans in Louisiana?” Then I answered in a loud voice, “Yes, yes, that’s right”. From this step on, a receptionist of the phone took the conversation and proceeded to decide the flight time and the amount to pay.