qué pasa, Wyoming?

I had another fun class today... two sections of a bachillerato, aka, about forty 17-18 year olds. Talk about intimidating. I was asked all the standard questions, about food (someone asked about hamburgers and I responded, "That's not ALL we eat." He followed with, "Yeah, you have hot dogs too." Touche, sir. I almost said, "Well played" but wasn't sure if that would translate), handguns, driving and drinking. I mean that we did a compare and contrast of the ages to purchase alcohol versus the age to buy a gun or to obtain your driver's license (um, think about it. Ridiculo.)

But the point of this post is that I was asked if I knew any famous people in America. Clearly, I am not A-List, B-List, or on any list at all, so I think that I am a huge disappointment as an American for them. Then a student began listing random people from Spanish sports teams, basically a jumble of Juans, Antonios, Carlos', Fernadezes and Martinezes. 

At this point, the co-teacher in the room cut in and explained, bluntly, to the kids that Spain is not on the news in America, unless something terrible is happening. And I mean seriously, when is the last time that you saw anything on the news about Spain? Did you know that the British acronym for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain is PIGS? Kind of lets you know where they're at, even within the European Union, right? 

The kids seemed pretty broken-hearted, or at the least, mildly disappointed, so I quickly jumped in and explained that, being from Boston, there are some states that you don't hear about for YEARS. Seriously, what IS the political, financial or whatever else situation in Wyoming?