March 24, 2010

Homestay soap opera - Episode 1

(Or who the heck is Roberta?)

My Goodness! I thought that kind of thing only happened in 3rd world countries. I was deadly wrong. I've signed for a homestay by USH. They've sent me six messages at once confirming the applying. And you know, I must confess I'm kind of lazy to read all that.

But when I finally read them I found that was the smallest of my problems. I wrote on my application that I would stay until July 6th. They've sent me a nice confirmation:

Welcome to the US and to sunny California! We are pleased to have chosen a homestay for you while attending New York Film Academy. Your 4 Weeks 5 Days stay will be from 04/25/2010 to 05/27/2010.

Are they kidding me? I'll stay for almost three months! So I've sent them a message warning about the slightly little mistake. They replied just to be sure:

Thank you for your email. So I understand that you will be staying until July 6th, not May 27th. Will Roberta, your roommate, also be staying until July 6th and sharing the bedroom with you? If she is moving out May 27th, then you will be charged for private room from May 28th until July 6th. Please confirm if that is correct. Thank you!

I beg your pardon, but who the f... is Roberta?

After that, I decided to read all the information really really carefully. And I notice that my family speaks Tagalog. What's that? Never heard of it! Thanks to Google now I know they speak it in Phillipines. And thanks to Wikipedia I know Philippines is a country in Southeast Asia.

As if it wasn't already too much for me, they live in North Hollywood, and this city wasn't in my list of special requests. (Read here)

What do I do? Couldn't help myself. Had a serious talk to them. Now I'm really worried about where I'll sleep when I arrive in LA.

Is that just because I'm Latin American? Is this the way I'll be treated during all my stay in US? Do they think I'm stupid? Can't they care about offering a good service? Do they think I'll accept anything just because I'm a foreigner? Nobody's doing me a favor, I'm paying for all and it's a lot. Really expensive. I'll take nothing but what I asked for. Period.

PS: When I started this blog I thought of telling my adventures. Should've remembered: be careful what you wish for!

1 comment:

Solange Hamrin said...

I love soap opera! Your trip started pretty well. Let's hope Robert is a nice girl. I have a friend who is tagalog-speaking person. He is mother tongue teacher here in Sweden. He told me that it is not each find dictionaries (Swedish-tagalog, for ex.)here in Sweden. His pupils have to translate to English first and then to Swedish.


You will be find, Brazilian girl in LA.

Kisses and take care

solange

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