Two Names

Caffeine has a tendency to make me feel like I can accomplish anything. I have cut out all sodas from my diet, but I will still have the occasional coffee drink. After said coffee drink consumption, I feel jittery and hyper. Aarao has trouble tolerating me when I am on a coffee high. He has actually told me that he has the right to be mean to me when I am on coffee.
Well, I had a cup of coffee on Friday. After the consumption of my cup of jittery goodness, I decided to do some things that had been on my to-do list for a while. One of these tasks was to go to the assessor's office and check on the lot that we bought behind our house. This is when my story really starts. I thought that it would be a short trip, but it wasn't. While I was there I got to chatting with the lady behind the desk. My conversations with these lovely southern sweethearts made me smile or cringe. Which one was it? Oh, what's the difference?

Conversation 1:
Lady: What is your last name.
Me: G-O-U-V-E-I-A
Lady: (please read with a southern accent) Well, that doesn't spell anything!
Me: It spells my last name, Gouveia.
Lady: Well, where is that from?
Me: My husband is from Brazil.
Lady: Oh, that makes sense! Oh! (noticing his first name on the computer) Well, his first name doesn't spell anything either!

Conversation 2:
Me: Will you check on my husband's last name? He legally has two last names, and I just want to make sure that it is in the system correctly.
Lady: Oh, well we have been having problems with that. We used to not have this problem, but now that all those people from Latin countries are coming over here. Now we have been having a problem. Our system just doesn't allow for two names. I don't know what they decided to do about it. You'll have to ask another lady. Now, why do they do that?
Me: Well, they keep their mother's and their father's last name.
Lady: But why?
Me: It is  a part of their culture.
Lady: (starring at me like I am ridiculous.)

Conversation 3: (with "other lady")
Me: I need to check on my husband's last name. He has two of them.
Other Lady: Yes, well we only put the last of his two last names. You see, we speak English here! So, that is why we only take one last name.

Now, these ladies were super sweet, and they were helping me with my business. However, oh my! This is the kind of thing that is so frustrating to deal with. What does having two last names have to do with speaking English? My husband speaks English! He will graduate from an American, English-speaking university this year. This doesn't change the fact that he has two last names. Also, why is it so hard to believe that he has two last names? Why is that so odd? Do we really think that every other culture is going to have the same traditions that we do? Why do we only keep our father's last name? Ugh! I believe that it is so important to look outside of our small box. Let's learn about other places, and value our differences. How wonderful it is to learn and experience the way others live! We are better people when we do this.