Gareeb

AFTER ELLICE ISLAND | FIRST FEW YEARS
 
America accepted immigrants through the famous Ellice Island portal. History and historical documentaries show lost souls mostly from Europe were granted entry and residency in the country. Each of them landed in the land of opportunity but as strangers with no understanding of culture, very little knowledge of the language in some cases but a determination to achieve a better life.
 
This mid-forty to late fifties profile of mass immigration changed in the sixties. The Ellice Island portal as an entry point was phased out. The new immigrant wave started - engineers, physicians, scientists based on education and merit now flying into John F. Kennedy or O'Hare airports replaced boat-based exodus via Ellice Island.
 
I arrived in the late sixties with a prestigious scholarship in hand en route to cold Michigan in March. For the first few years, I encountered what I can look back and find funny and hilarious.
 
DATE | On my first date on the campus which lasted 2 hours. The young lady took pity on me and assume either I lacked a cultural or English language background. She politely explained to me for 20 minutes that Date is not the middle eastern palm tree fruit but a social event where man and woman meet. I listened politely without interjection or clarification of my knowledge base. Cambridge Dictionary on Date - a social event planned in advance or the sweet brown fruit of various palm trees. We never met again and the battle of fruit versus social event remained unresolved.
 
DICE | As a graduate student I attended advanced class in statistics. With a strong background in mathematics, it was a great choice. In the very first lecture, the professor illustrated an example of rolling the dice and the probability of 7 coming up. He continued using a roll of dice throughout the hour. I took notes with confusion. The British education system's statistical example involved shuffling the deck of cards and not rolling of dice. For me, dice is chopping with a knife, and took me three days of personalized library research to find out dice is not chopping but play cubes with numbers. My vanity forced me not to ask my fellow students about dice because in the class of about 25 students everyone got it except me. Even today I smile at this event of three-day confusion and upon reflection realized the word dice is used association - roll the dice or diced the tomato - the noun versus verb.
 
DORMITORY | I arrived at 2.00 am in the morning of a very cold March night in Michigan. The Greyhound bus dropped me in front of the student union. Knocked at the front door and a sleepish security guard answered. I asked him where should I go. He indicated two blocks down, then turn right and I will be in front of the dormitory. I was taken aback as per my British schooling dormitories are for prisoners. I said to the gentleman I do not wish to go to a dormitory. After a brief exchange, the door was shut in my face. With no choice at hand, I made the two-block journey to Munger Graduate Housing with the heartfelt scolding of self trepidation for being pushed to a dormitory. I eventually realized Dormitory, Student Housing and Student Hostel were synonymous.
 
KITKAT | Prior to coming to the USA I had not heard of Kitkat nor seen a candy dispensing machine. While arriving at the dormitory and with time pegged at 3.00 am I felt hungry. I saw a student come down, put a dime, and pulling the lever to get Kitkat. I waited until he left, checked the surroundings, and repeated the same process step-by-step to get a Kitkat. The step replication allowed me to master vending machine operation and to date, Kitkat remains my favorite even against Godiva or Lindt.
 
These snippets are from a wide array of incidents that helped me form my recycled persona adopting the surroundings while at times questioning my wisdom to come here. These simple things seen through my experience lense contributed more than my education informing me. | Welcome to America.