People who may be annoyed that I did not call them by name sufficiently often when I spoke to them in the past can take comfort that a twenty-something Spanish-speaking man has been calling me "excuse me" for the past two weeks. The last syllable of his name is pronounced exactly the sane way as the last syllable of mine. I can only assume that I was not important enough - a sorry attitude for a tourism student; although he never said he was a good student. Meanwhile the English-speaking children (under 5) who live here have no problem with my name. All the politeness, friendliness and chivalry did not quite make up for it.
Dear reader if you assume that a Spanish-speaking person who learned minimal English in Canada in his twenties, (many water = rain), does not come from Europe, you would be correct.
