Nomes americanos? Nomes estranhos! - SQN ou SQS?

Será que só aqui nos EUA que a gente encontra pessoas com nomes de coisas? Estou falando de substantivos concretos e abstratos que passam a ser próprios. Ainda não está entendendo do que estou falando? Pode deixar que eu explico!

Vamos começar com os nomes brasileiros. O meu é Suelen, e o seu? Fernanda, Raquel (ou Rachel), Carlos, Marcelo? Não interessa qual seja, na grande maioria os nomes no nosso país costumam ser nomes, de pessoas, entende? Apesar de que eu acho que li em algum lugar sobre um casal que se conheceu na internet e decidiu batizar o filho de Facebook! Não sei qual era o sobrenome, mas já tenho dá da criança só de pensar no bullying que vai sofrer na escola. Afinal, Facebook é nome de um site, não de uma pessoa e acho que os brasileiros não estamos preparados para isso, rs!

Pelo menos eu acho que é assim que a maioria de nós pensa. Já aqui, é outra história. Apesar de conhecermos os nomes de sempre, como: Sarah, Paul, Clair, Michael, etc, existe um grande número de nomes aqui que pra mim é bem fora do normal. Se você não consegue pensar em nenhum, deixe-me ajuda-lo. Você já viu o nome Rain (Chuva) em algum filme? Ou que tal April (Abril)? Talvez já tenho visto o nome London (Londres)?

Já está se perguntando o mesmo que eu me perguntei quando prestei atenção no que eu estava ouvindo? Por que será que eles fazem isso? Imagina se você conhecesse alguém chamado Londres. Seria no mínimo estranho. E a vontade de rir então?! Não que Londres seja uma palavra engraçada, pelo contrário, já me vem à cabeça toda aquela seriedade britânica, mas que é estranho uma pessoa receber nome de “algo”, isso é! Mas, mil perdões se por acaso você resolveu batizar sua filha de Chuva!

Além de serem dados nomes que não de pessoas, muitos deles aqui também são unissex! Ou seja, serve tanto para homem, quanto para mulher. Se você não acredita em mim, tente dar uma passadinha no Google e “perguntar pra ele” sobre Chandler, Peyton, Charlie, Alex, Drew, Jesse, Sam, etc... Pois é, confuso né?! Imagina na infância, coitada dessas crianças! :p

Talvez eu esteja exagerando, tenho certeza de que em algum quanto do Brasil deve existir alguém chamado Agosto, da mesma forma que o mês sim! Aqui tem August. Já vi mais de um pessoalmente, fora os que ouvi na TV. Sei que no Brasil tem Agostinho, ou Augusto. Será que vem do mesmo August dos EUA?

E você? Sabe de nomes estranhos? Diferentes? Só quero deixar claro que eu não tenho a intenção de ofender ninguém, afinal nome por mais comum ou incomum que seja, serve para nos identificar e mostrar ao mundo que cada um é único. Minhas host kids tem substantivos abstratos como nomes. Caso vocês não saibam tenho duas meninas chamadas Faith (Fé) e Trinity (Trindade). As duas receberam nomes que podem ser encontrados na bíblia. E acho que nunca ouvi falar de alguém com o de Fé, muito menos de Trindade. Mas só sei que as duas palavras soam muito bem como nomes delas.

Não esqueça de me contar se souber algum nome interessante. Essa coisa de nome aqui nos EUA pegou mesmo pra mim ;)

Xoxo

Sue

When I came to America

Okay, so this is my first post in English and I know that if my mom or any other relative who doesn't understand English checks my blog, they will be mad. But, I know they love me, so that's fine! :p

Today I want to talk about how it was for me when I first came to America.

First of all I would like to tell you that I arrived in this country on a 4^th. of July. My flight landed in NY around 10 pm, and yes, I saw fireworks. It was one of the happiest moments in my life. After all, I was coming to the United States, I would be getting to know a different culture and so many different people, I would be able to speak English the whole time, which I love, and also I would have the opportunity to travel and see this amazing country with my own eyes, not through pictures or TV or whatever... 

 Of course I have to say that landing at the lights and sounds of fireworks was unique. I mean, I didn’t hear anything because I was in the plane. But, it was like a dream come true. And it really was! It was funny because I remember I got mad at the immigration gate because the guy talked to me in Spanish. Seriously? I’m from Brazil! You can see that in my passport. I know we are the only one that speak Portuguese in South America, but still, you work at the immigration, you should at least have an idea, mainly because there are so many Brazilians arriving in this country to spend money, and most of them come through the same airport I did! Plus, if you don’t know what language I speak, talk to me in English, after all I’m here as an Au Pair, and I’m sure you saw that in my Visa, I should be able to understand you at least a little bit. Anyways, asking what language I speak instead of just assuming is not going to make me mad! :)

After that, I just remember how good I was feeling for being here. I even didn’t care that we waited for like an hour for the guy who would pick us up to arrive. I was just enjoying my first moments in America and it was really good. Looking around, hearing all those different sounds. So many people, so many languages… I felt like I was at a movie set or something like that.

Finally the guy came, we got in the car and I remember that the first thing I was looking for was the switchgear and I was grinning just because the car had an automatic transmission. And it was an old car, a van. I didn’t know it was even possible to have it in old cars! Automatic transmission was luxury to me. I had never been in one of those cars before, and it is amazing how common it is here (and how cheap too!). And it may seem so silly to you reading that now that an old van impressed me by being automatic, but it was just a sign that I really was in a developed country where ordinary people who wake up in the morning to go to work can afford to have good stuff. Not only pay bills.

When the other girls and I arrived at the lodging, a part of me kind of wanted to stay up and talk to everybody and just explore, but it was humanly impossible. I had been on two flights on that day, 5 hours each, from Brazil to Colombia, then from Colombia to the United States. I was exhausted and I needed a shower, and go to bed. And on that day it was also the first time I flew and I was just having so much going on… I needed to go to bed and think about everything that was happening in my life. In one day I had cried my eyes out for leaving my family, my friends and my country, I had had one of the most exciting and scaring feelings when the plane started taking off and when it was shaking because of the turbulence, which I still didn’t get used to, and I had felt the happiest person in the planet for having such a great journey starting in my life.

I really wish everybody achieve their goals. I can assure you it is one of the best feelings ever. And I not even want to live in this country. But I always wanted to see how it is, not only the United States, but anywhere, I always wanted to travel and learn all the new and different. Being an Au Pair is for sure a great experience if you do it right. But I really suggest a lot of traveling! Go wherever you want to go. See, talk, eat, learn. You will see how different and glad you will feel.

I think that’s enough for my first post in English. Sometimes I might post in Portuguese, it really depends on my mood, but I’ll try to do most of it in English, so people everywhere can get to read it without Internet translators’ terrible translations and get to know my views on everything I talk about here. Feel free to ask me whatever you would like to and to leave your comments :)

Take care everyone,

Sue