[GH85Carrera]

I spent time growing up in Hawaii, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma.

When I was in Hawaii I was pretty good at speaking pidgin and more important understanding pidgin English. We moved from Hawaii to Alabama, and I was clueless to understand the thick southern accent and the black classmates were un-comprehensible to me. It took me several months to really understand my teacher.

My first day in third grade I was one day late starting school as we were still getting moved in. The teacher said, with a very thick southern accent, that we were going to have a spelling test to see our knowledge of spelling. I could not understand her at all. She started with the word quarter, only she pronounced it something like ka-warta. I had no idea what a ka-warta was, so i spelled it phonetically. I made a ZERO on my spelling test. She sent me home with a note, and asked to see my parents. She told them she thinks I may be retarded, as I made a zero on my test. My dad replied madam, I can just barely understand you, and I am an Air Force officer that has traveled a lot. My parents went the the principal, and had me transferred to a teacher that spoke with just a slight accent.