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| This is English, mate! |
I arrived in Auckland a month ago and for the last 30 days I came to realize that here in New Zealand, I suddenly don't know how to speak English. And I scrapped my fake American accent to the ground and tried to find my own tongue.
Backtracking.
When I arrived at the airport with 57 kilos worth of baggage in tow --- alone and tragically confused, I asked an airport personnel where the exit to the shuttle transport station is. She told me to take the lift and continue straight ahead and I will see the shuttle services. I thanked her profusely and went ahead, looking for the lift.
In a country where "elevators" are called "lifts", I was smugly telling myself that I do KNOW what a lift is, similarly that loo, john and toilet are all one word referring to the restroom. After roughly 15 minutes of looking for that goddamned lift and finding none at all except for a Fire Exit door, I was exasperated and went back to that same lady.
Our conversation went like this:
ME: Scuse me, I cannot find the lift. Is there any other way where I could go to the second floor? An escalator perhaps? I have a lot of baggage in tow...
AIRPORT LADY: Miss, there is no second floor here in the airport.
ME: But you told me earlier that the way to the shuttle services is to take the lift.
AIRPORT: Yes indeed, love. Take the lift. You know, the opposite of right? Lift and right?
Just the same that "second" is "sickind", "seven" is "sivin" and a whole lot of vowel differences between E's and I's.
Then it hit me: I need to go back to primary school and learn English.
