Thick accent, poor cell phone connection. Much easier to understand when you're face to face (or video) and have context. It was probably 50% shock - she was expecting a "normal" east NC accent.
FWIW, I bet being English does help - I'm Scottish and don't struggle with accents anywhere near as much as some of my friends. I once had a roommate ask to turn on captions for Trainspotting - and those accents weren't even that thick (IMO)!
Thick accent, poor cell phone connection. Much easier to understand when you're face to face (or video) and have context. It was probably 50% shock - she was expecting a "normal" east NC accent.
FWIW, I bet being English does help - I'm Scottish and don't struggle with accents anywhere near as much as some of my friends. I once had a roommate ask to turn on captions for Trainspotting - and those accents weren't even that thick (IMO)!