International experience

[Henna]

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Since most of us here are from different countries I thought it would be interesting to share our experiences / goof ups when we first moved to North America. Different cultures and habits. How did you come to terms with it ?

-I was pretty dissapointed by the mashed potatoes and broccoli that I offered in the plane, I was sooooooooooo hungry yet I couldn't eat it.
-Canada literally blew me away with its beauty. It was quite breath taking. All the cute houses with picture perfect surroundings.
-Once I asked one of my husband's friends when he was getting married ( poor thing didn't even have a girlfriend at that point 😳 ), I am just glad I didnt ask him how much he his pay was.🙂
-I couldn't understand the canadian accent for a loooong time.
- I was very uncomfortable with the fact that the city was not crowded.🙂

more to come.......

how was your experience ???

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by Henna
...-I couldn't understand the canadian accent for a loooong time.....

I've been coming to the US since I was a kid, I still cannot tell a Canadian accent. They sound very American to me.

 

[Henna]

Just look for "eh" at the end of the sentence.

(Canadian expression "eh?" - pronounced "ay?" Many Canadians tack it on to the end of every assertion to turn it into a question. )

 

[toothmail]

so henna....u have a canadian accent now, eh?

 

[Henna]

Proper spelling of Canada: C eh, N eh, D eh

Ok back to the orginal topic ........

 

[SiMpLy IrReSiStAbLe]

Proper spelling of Canada: C eh, N eh, D eh

 

[Henna]

Iam starting to think no one wants to talk about anything other than applications here..........😡 😛

 

[toothmail]

😛

hi everyone

well as for me....my first impression of USA when we were just outside the airport was....."oh look! its just like bombay!" 😀
.....later on i heard from one of my friends that her first impression of USA was ...."its exactly like bangalore!".....so i am not the only one who compares everything to my homeland!!

i am still in the phase where i convert the price of every single thing i buy to rupees and say "oh gawd....way too expensive! we cant buy that!!! 😱 ".........i am basically driving my husband up the wall ! 😛

and i love the idea of the "answering machine"!!! i can laze around all day and let all the messages be handled by that amazing "answering machine"! (we had various things of the sort in india too but somehow we never needed it there! but here it seems like a necessity!!)

looking forward to hearing from the rest of u too! we are all in the same boat i am sure!!

 

[dentek2]

Well let me tell you about my blunders........
1. When I first came to U.S I was totally disappointed not to find skyscrapers all over the place,I didn't know the difference b/w downtowns and suburbs . we lived in a 2 storey apartment building in the suburbs,imagine the crush i felt ,when i couldn't compare it to all the high rises i had seen in the movies
[and i am not from B'lore or bombay ]

2.I was awed by the automated ticketing machines in the train station. being a very clumsy person,the first time i used it,I pushed a quarter through the note slot instead of the coin one and got everything stuck up.imagine my embarassment,with a small qeue behind me...........

3.after I had been here for scarcely 3 weeks we had an appointment rgding Green card application with our lawyer[american guy].he had an accent which was very difficult for me to follow at that time and I was constantly on the edge of my seat trying to concentrate.so for qtns i couldn't follow i just smiled and nodded my head and said Oh ! yes to the trivial ones.the relevant ones my hubby answered.
then the second time we met when my hubby went out for something, the lawyer asked me "so you guys drove down here?" he slurred all the words[to my ears] ,i didn't follow a word and from his expression i guessed it was a trivial qtn and did my usual trick of nodding. when my husband came in he asked " so where did u park?"[actually we had taken the train] and my husband said:" Oh !we took the train,it is hell to find parking here".the guy looked at me quizzically and I gave all my attention to the picture hanging on the wall.that taught me a lesson in nodding my head...........
well i didn't forget to berate my hubby after we got out from there for not supporting me,but he didn't know the story..................
there are more hilarious stories but I think this will do for now.enough to satisfy everyone...
and 1 more thing,now[after 1 1/2 yrs] I can talk to our lawyer over the phone and follow every word........Boy, have I come a looooooonnngggg way...................

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by newyorker
...That woman still sends me newyear cards.
I guess my experience is not exciting to some of you. Sorry!

Not exciting????? I sure had some guts!!!!

Newyear cards is the least she can do!!!

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by newyorker
Yeah! it is the least she can do.
If it is a Bollywood movie formula we could have ended up in a marriage after some duets and dances in the Central Park. It is too bad i did not find my bride in a subway.🙄

Well, at least now we cannot think that you help her, just because she was good looking or anything. You did just because she was a lady.

 

[Henna]

Originally posted by newyorker
June 2000, 11.30 PM
.

I still do not know where i got those guts to fight those gangsters. I knocked down two guys with my suitcase and kicked a guy in his testicles. when these guys fell down ... other two guys were totally drunk started running off. Then in the next stop some passengers got into our subway compartment to hold those guys who were finally arrested by NYPD.

That woman still sends me newyear cards.

Ya right ! 🙄
And I went to the moon .😛

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by newyorker
I could have helped anyone even a senior citizen..or..even that evil Intr'nl dental moderator 😀

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by Henna
Ya right ! 🙄
And I went to the moon .😛

 

[Meggs]

Originally posted by Henna
..... Those Rajnikant movies ( Indian actor, meggs:😉)are taking you away from reality.

Thanks.

Yes, good move. From now on everytime you mention some Indian, you better post the answer before I make the question, 'cause you know sooner or later I'll make it. 😀 Just like Jeopardy!.

 

[Henna]

I knew I'd have to answer it anyways, so went for " Better now than later ".😀

 

[vishu]

I landed in wahington DC airport.On our way home i could see only cars.no humans walking.for few days i was looking out of the bedroom window and when my husband came and asked me what i am doing I told him I was looking forward to see a human being walking !!!!

 

[toothmail]

same here, vishu! where are all the people?!


another thing that i took some time getting used to is the way people talk to complete strangers that they pass by...

people out here say .........."hi, how are u? nice to see u!" ........ and i used to say "hi" but used to think....."but i dont know who u are?!" 😱

now all i say is "am pretty good....and how are u?" without even a second thought!!!

 

[dentek2]

I used to give people a nasty stare when they said "HI"[becoz thatz what i did in india].they must have thought I am from another planet for doing that.maybe thatz why immigrants are called 'aliens' [becoz of all the peculiar behaviour]

 

[dentek2]

YUCK, TOO GROSS!!!
Not interested in reading this thread anymore as long as you post here😛

 

[Henna]

Originally posted by toothmail
same here, vishu! where are all the people?!

Exactly ! For a long time I thought they did'nt come out of the house because of the weather ( in Canada ) I waited for summer and it still was the same. Then I realized why they called India over populated.

 

[Henna]

Originally posted by dentek2
YUCK, TOO GROSS!!!
Not interested in reading this thread anymore as long as you post here😛

If you thought this was gross wait till you come across the cursed "XXXXXXXXX" thread.

Edited on request.

 

[ek_dds]

Hello Guys,

This seemed quite a fabulous thread to respond to.
I am from Hyd in India and I first came to a small village in Oklahoma where my university was.

When I started out I thought it was a waste to have all the sweaters and coats as I never thought I would use all of them-U bet I was wrong-For every single day(since I came in Jan)
I wore every single protection I had against the severe cold.

I was literally praying for the day I could see the sun.

I luckily had a friend of mine from My BDS days as my roommate.

Once we wanted some coffee at the library.Vending machines were new to both of us.It was 55 cents for a cappuccino.
Since we were together we put in $1 and 10 cents and waited.
(Its never written that we had to put inmoney as needed one at a time and we were too naive then).We waited and nothing happened.We lost around a dollar before we successfully obtained our coffee.

The place was a nightmare for me at times one because of the weather and as someone mentioned before-where are the people?

Everybody has cars and noone walks!It was terrible for a hyderabadi like me.How pathetic that you cannot ask anyone on the roads like you can back home incase you get lost or are looking for directions.

Once we had to get our groceries from Walmart which was a mile away.On that day we didnt have any friends to give the drop.
So we decided to walk-Going was fine but coming back was both hilarious and embarrasing as everyone got to look at 3 people walking with big black plastic bags-(Luckily a student stoppedby and gave us a drop home)Obviously that was the first and the last time that we ever walked for groceries.


Now Im in NY and I really wondered why they call it the the greatest city in the world.It truly is.
The energy that you feel while you walk(In NY you can) is amazing.
Manhattan is the best place in the world.Im truly amazed at the intellectual thinking that has gone into the layout of manhattan-that you can have signs for people walking,that you will have to have the traffic only in two directions at any given point.
That such huge structures could be built using steel and that so much progress is possible,that you can still construct subway systems underneath the ground when you have multiplexes already existing.That once upon a time the tallest structure on the face of this earth -The Empire state Building could be built all in 1 year.
And all this in the 1930's.That is really proof for human intelligence and perseverance.

Times square at Night is so beautiful-it always seems like a bride
walking down the aisle towards her beloved-always charming and always enchanting.

Manhattan is definetely not complete without the innumerable tourists from as many countries that you can think of everyday!
And so far I could see the street side eateries that I have seen only at Hyd only at Manhattan.You get a chicken bbq for $2 and a coke for a dollar.You can get Nuts for a dollar or two.

The chinese are the ones that I really draw inspiration from.They are extremely courteous.Most of them are into Name painting or potrait sketching.And they do it with such sincerity that their work is just fabulous.

I have a hand for pencil sketching and I used to think that I was very good-not anymore-not after I have seen people at Grand central park and at times square.One really needs to be gifted to draw as they do.

They are somany things that you can buy for just 5-10 dollars and ofcourse so many that you cannot even think of.Walk along the fifth avenue and youll know what Im talking about.

There is a saying in Telugu that goes-Koti Vidyalu kooti korake.
It means all the skills are ultimately to earn bread-well roughly.
I get to go to Manhattan frequently and everytime I go I see living examples of this saying.From the Ladies who sell batteries in subways for 1 dollar,or the man who plays violin for donations to the African American people who perform stunts near times,to the painters to the vendors,to the innumerable hangermen distributing flyers,to the men who drive horse carriages,to the doormen at fivestar hotels,at the end of the day its Human struggle to feed that little stomach of ours so that the show goes on!many times I wonder Im no different-aiming for DDS,Im no different from them.In the end of the day its all about providing ,maybe in my case I can add the word well.

Though I didnt get a fabulous score I really draw inspiration from my lessons in Ny.Theres more to write -someother time.
But If you are in the US,dont miss Ny Manhattan for anything in this world.I assure you you will love it every inch.

Goodluck,
Keep posting.

 

[toothmail]

nice post ek_dds....u really have a talent for writing! i have been to manhattan and was impressed but your description of the place makes me see the place with new eyes!

 

[Henna]

How about the driving direction..its always go east and then north and west...never right or left. I found that so weird .

 

[toothmail]

i know!! east west...who knows the difference?! " go straight north for 2miles...blah blah..." .....ok so do i look like i have a compass here? but i am pathetic at directions anyways...even "go right and then go left" doesnt work with me! i will be lost anyways!!😀

 

[Henna]

Originally posted by toothmail
...even "go right and then go left" doesnt work with me! i will be lost anyways!!😀

You have company...