I've been meaning to post this one for awhile, but other things keep coming up.  It happened several weeks ago, in my classroom.
     We had a young lady visiting from Germany come visit my classes during the second week of school.  She babysat (in Germany) for a friend of one of the Spanish teachers, during her time working in Bonn.  The young lady's name is Ricci ("rickie").  After introductions, I asked her if she would be willing to introduce herself to my classes, and answer some questions.  I made sure she knew that it was totally her choice, I just wanted her to enjoy her visit.  She graciously agreed to the Q and A.
     It was a good day.  The students asked pretty good questions about family, school, learning English and studying German.  There were a few moments, however, when a teacher just has to fight the urge to do a "face palm".
     One class.....no, fairness to class...one young lady had asked Ricci if any of her friends spoke German............really?!?  Ricci hesitated, before politely explaining that her friends all lived in Germany, and German was their first language.  Another young man asked (not 10 minutes later) how many of her teachers spoke German............again, really??!??  Reply...."all of them?"
     The classes were being pretty good not "jumping" the students with the "face-palm" questions, but this class missed out on the best one.
     The next period, things were going well, same general direction of questions, and then the "big one" ........."Do teenagers in Germany use cellphones?
     I hesitated momentarily, biting my lip hard enough to bruise it, hoping to neither embarass the student NOR Ricci, who paused with a puzzled facial expression as if thinking this might be somehow a trick question.  I need not have worried.  After her split second pause, with the straight face of a seasoned public speaking veteran, she dead-panned her response....
     "No, we just shout at each other."
     I nearly fell over, laughing so hard!!  Even the student who had asked, realized the absurdity of the question, laughed along with the rest of the class, and much learning took place that day.  I do love my job!!!

Now, short addition:  These exchanges are good for all sides, which is why I push so hard to give my students chances and knowledge to travel.  Ricci also had a misconception clarified.  She admitted that she and her friends mostly thought that the American High Schools portrayed in movies and TV were all just as fake and make-believe as many other things in Hollywood.  The huge buildings with thousands of students, high tech labs and classrooms, marching bands, show choirs, big cafeterias and so on and so forth.  Then she walked into Conway High School.Conway Public Schools  and realized, the only element missing from this being "High School Musical"  was kids singing and dancing in the hallways.  (Big smile......MUCH learning was done that day!)