Pride and Prejudice

Perdão Jane Austen, mas o título vem bem a calhar com o que está entalado na minha garganta. Na verdade, é um acúmulo de atitudes e desdém de alguns norte-americanos difícil de engolir. Eu posso apostar minha coleção de all star de que todas as au pairs vindas de um país do terceiro mundo já passaram ao menos uma vezinha por situações semelhantes de preconceito ou simplesmente ignorância. De insultar o orgulho e a inteligência. Portanto, I'm very sorry, but this post has to be in english so the people who need to read it can understand.

We are not in the USA for the money. Making a budget can be one of the reasons some of us came to be an au pair, but in just rare exceptions that's the main porpose. Being Brazilians doesn't mean we're poor.

You don't need to talk to me slowly or like I have some kind of problem. I can speak your language (unlike most of you, that doesn't even know portuguese is Brazil's oficial language). Speaking in english about me beside me, thinking that I can't get what your saying, is foolishness. And don't be afraid to get close, have a conversation with me as normal, civilized people. I don't have any contagious disease just for being a foreigner.

I've been asked if we have bears in Brazil, if we celebrate Christmas, people were surprised 'cause I knew who were the Power Rangers. You may not recognise it, but not knowing anything about other countries is ignorance. Lack of respect for the rest of the world.

And just to make things straight, I'm not talking about my host family or about their relatives. They're being really nice to me since I got here and I'll always be grateful for that.

Pronto, tendo tudo isso vomitado, prometo não escrever outro post revoltado tão cedo.

PS: I don't like to stereotype. Not all the americans act like that, of course.