2. Articles by International Students - Khalida
Khan
Where is the restroom - anyone?
Hi, I am Khalida from Bangladesh. I came to the States in 2001 and was quite unaware
of American slang. To start with during orientation on campus, I needed to use the
restroom. Now back home, the door that provides this facility is marked with words,
such as just “Men” and “Women” or “Toilet”.
Now, though I knew what a restroom was, a friend of mine (also new into the country
at the time) was not familiar with its usage. After loitering around for a few minutes
on the huge empty campus, we came to a stop at a door, which just had the word “Restroom”
on it (the writing indicating the distinction of sexes got wiped out somehow) and
while we waited awkwardly not sure how to handle the situation (so that we may not
be embarrassed by if someone saw us); two elderly gentlemen stepped out. “Ah,
so this is what a rest room is, a room where older people rest after they get tired
of walking this massive campus”, my friend remarked. I was unaware of his
ignorance and just burst out laughing.
Well, his ignorance was not the only thing to laugh about but mine too. In those
earlier days, I once overheard two American friends talking and one remarked, “take
a rain check” which left me awed as how to rain and check were related. Funky
fashion was way out my league. Men with long French and beaded braids and earrings
were not something I was accustomed to. Once, waiting at the sub-way queue, I wanted
to inquire the time from the person standing in front of me and thrown off by the
disguise, I went “Excuse me, ma…” and stopped abruptly, when the
person turned around and much to my disappointment, the ‘Madam’ actually
turned out to be a ‘Sir’.
So much for my cultural shock as I can recall and the rest, due to God’s grace
have just been a breeze.
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