If an ordinary citizen treats all aliens as the same, ok. I can understand that but I disagree, of course. But what about a company tailored to welcome foreigners?
As I told you in my last post, there's been a huge misunderstanding about my stay in US. They've put me with a Phillipine family with a roomate called Roberta. (Who the heck is Roberta?) Now the mistery is solved. "It seems your application was confused with another Brazilian student who requested a roommate", they said. All right. One Brazilian, two Brazilians... What's the difference? Put them together and colect the money!
Of course that's nothing I asked for. My special requests were completely neglected. Still, I insist with USH.
Let's give them another chance. Why not? I'm fair enough to do that. But I won't give up on my cities list! Or my private room! Neither make a fool of myself if my host family starts to speak Tagalog among them in my face knowing that I can't understand a word of that. And then USH replied:
Please be aware that homestay is based on availability which means that hosts must be able to accommodate you in their schedule and based on your profile information, agree to host you. So the locations that you indicated in your file will be based on availability. Regarding your preference for an "American family," we'll be happy to place you with one of our many diverse, American hosts. Since we do not indicate host's ethnicity in their file, we can only ensure you that they are American, have been visited and interviewed by the Director of USH, have undergone a criminal background check and thus, determined as quality homestay hosts for our students.
Why do I have the feeling they're really saying "stop complaining and be happy with what we get you, alien"? Maybe because those are the standard excuses from Brazilian companies on any subject. They always say they'll do everything possible -- and then offer the only thing they actually want to provide (preferably with no effort and great profits). Humpf...
Let me tell you a naked truth about Brazilian culture: Brazilian means survivor. We never ever give up. We always find a way -- with or without the system.
I've got the contact of a friend's friend that is living in L.A. for years. I guess he's "majored" in American way of life. I'll start with that. Maybe he has some good tips. I'll find the best place to stay. That's a promisse.
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