Bilingual Techs

[Green Mountain]

I live south of the border. From where I am I can drive 3 hours north and be in the middle of Montreal. If you really want to feel stupid as an American go to Montreal.

Go to any restuarant or shop. The servers will greet you in French. As soon as you say,"Huh?" they will speak to you in perfect English. It is a bilingual city. Two official languages. No problem. You are the dummy if you only speak one language. Not that they make fun of you because you can only speak one language. They just kind of consider you handicapped.

[trane]

Sysint, you think letting all the good hard working mexicans in is good for this country? They are the ones taking jobs away from us. I have to disagree with you on this and vote to send them all back. The lazy ones are stealing and the working ones are taking jobs away from thousands of people.

[RoBoTeq]

Originally posted by yorkie820
RoBoTeq...how did u get into Cuba? Did you had to go to one of those gateway nations to get there? I have been wanting to go for a long time. When I saw the documentary on the Buena Vista Social Club, I couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty Cuba has to offer.

You can get to Cuba from anywhere but the U.S. The Cuban government does not stamp American passports so as to avoid creating issues for Americans that visit there.

As for natural beauty, that is the only beauty you would appreciate becuase the Cuban government essentially owns everything and has done nearly nothing to improve Cuban real estate. Even the monuments to the Revolution were existing monuments to some other cause.

I must add that there is much beauty in the Cuban people. I have never met a nicer group of people. It is a shame how they will change when that country opens up and they acquire the freedoms that others in the world take for granted.

One Cuban tour guide stated that the reason Cubans are so nice is that they all have to live with their mothers-in-law. I tried very hard to ignore the opulent facade of normalcy that the Cuban government allows to be put up while barely concealing the fact that while the Cuban people endure their lifestyle graciously, the Cuban government only tends to suppress a beautifull culture of people.

I for one admire the dedication of Fidel Castro. I admire the way he stood up to the United States for what he believes is best for his people. I don't however agree with him and I can see where the Cuban people will have tremendous oportunities when Castro is dead and the country opens up to the rest of the world as a free nation.

By the end of the weekend that I spent in Havannah I was quite fed up with the hypocracy of the Cuban government. Basically, Cuba is set up to where the only way a Cuban citizen can better his/her life is to participate in Cuba's vast black market, everything on the black market is illega, yet overseen by some government official..so..the Cuban government has something on every citizen to keep them from ever getting out of line by vocalizing any discotent about their lives.

By the way the Cuban government has set up the two peso system the government gets a cut of every illegal transition that takes place in the black market while maintaining that it is against such illegal practices going on.

Yorkie, people like you wouldn't last a week in Cuba without winding up in jail. You would not be able to spout off your opinions like you have the right to do so in the U.S.

[gruntly]

Originally posted by benncool
I live south of the border. From where I am I can drive 3 hours north and be in the middle of Montreal. If you really want to feel stupid as an American go to Montreal.

Go to any restuarant or shop. The servers will greet you in French. As soon as you say,"Huh?" they will speak to you in perfect English. It is a bilingual city. Two official languages. No problem. You are the dummy if you only speak one language. Not that they make fun of you because you can only speak one language. They just kind of consider you handicapped.

Don't feel bad, Mr. Benncool Sir... They treat everyone like that.

Why is it so many reject everything English in this world... Except the language?

Mr. RoBo Sir...Cubans probably see so few Americans, they thought you were Canadian I've never been, I'll probably never go... My wife is from Barbados so I prefer it there(if I ever get there again...) or Florida. Had a good time there, too.

[sysint]

Originally posted by trane
Sysint, you think letting all the good hard working mexicans in is good for this country? They are the ones taking jobs away from us. I have to disagree with you on this and vote to send them all back. The lazy ones are stealing and the working ones are taking jobs away from thousands of people.

-Tell that to your grandpa. Insert his nationality in place of "mexicans".

[ozone drone]

Originally posted by benncool

Originally posted by ozone drone

. E Pluribus Unum...from many one.

YOU'RE POSTING IN LATIN!!???!! Get out of my country you commie Roman Ba$tard. (You're probably Catholic to boot!)

ooops!

[midhvac]

I'm really considering learning Spanish. The hispanic influx here is higher than the norm and I can see the advantages of learning the language.

Even if it doesn't help my business, at least I'll know what they're saying about me in the elevator.

[RoBoTeq]

Originally posted by gruntly
Mr. RoBo Sir...Cubans probably see so few Americans, they thought you were Canadian

The Cubans I spoke with who I told I was American did not seem surprised. The U.S. dollar is the only foreign currency that Cuba puts a 20% surcharge on to exchange for Cuban exhchange pesos. I don't recall seeing any other Americans there, but I was not there that long.

The tours buses deliberatly avoid going down roads that have anti-American billboards posted on them. Again, it is the Cuban government that does not like us, and really, who can blame them? After all, we did try to assasinate Fidel Castro.

Then again, he should be over that by now since there have been hundreds of other assasination attempts on his life since. It is so bad that no one knows where Castro lives.