JUST WONDERING...

The hubby and I had this conversation before: Being an immigrant here in North America, when do you know you truly are 'North American'?

Being our silly selves, we came up with two things.

a) When you think in English.
b) When you dream in English.

HA-HA

How about you? What do you think?

F-O-B

I am currently in Ajax at my parents' place and I don't know how it all started but we started talking about random stuff- including MY FOBBY moments. And now, my MOTHER AND HUSBAND wanted me to share my VERY EMBARRASSING moments to the whole wide world!

-I was on my first few shifts at McDonald's (my very first job) and a customer asked me for something... I couldn't understand what he was saying at all. It sounded like pure mumbling to me although that 'something' he was asking for sounded familiar. After he repeated himself so many times, I started to panic- I still had no idea what EXACTLY he wanted and he was getting really frustrated with me. And I was already trying my hardest to lip-read! I thought I was gonna cry but since I thought I knew what he was asking for I said, "Oh, that!" I can see the relief on his face while I started to walk to the side- going to the ice cream machine getting his 'something.' I walked back to the customer with a huge smile on my face and handed him the MOST PERFECT VANILLA CONE I was capable of making. The customer looked at me like I just did the STUPIDEST thing and said, "What's this?" I said, "You wanted *me mumbling trying to make it sound like whatever he said*, right?" At this time, a good friend of mine (who happened to work with me and was working on the next till) was looking at us trying to figure out what was happening. When the customer shouted, "I want some S**V****ES!" I was almost in tears, then I saw my friend walk outside to the condiments counter and got him a whole bunch of napkins. She then walked up to me and said, "He was asking for SERVIETTES!" (To all you Filipinos out there: get it? SERVIETTES? SORBETES? And I wasn't even sure what SORBETES meant. I just remembered seeing that word on some ice cream container in the Philippines so I assumed it meant ice cream!).

-Same setting: McDonalds. A man came up and asked for some 'chips.' I was very apologetic when I said, "I'm sorry, sir. We don't sell chips here. This is McDonalds. The convenient store is just around the corner." He looked at me and pointing to the fry machine he said, "What are those then?" FRIES!

At least when the incident above happened, I finally realized that it was okay to order 'Fish and Chips.' I never wanted to order it before cuz when they say 'chips," it's usually Lay's or some kind of potato chips which I don't really appreciate much. And besides, why would you eat fish with CHIPS? Fish and Fries sounds more appetizing!

-I was doing some shopping and when the cashier handed me the receipt I looked at it and looked at her in shock. I walked back and said, "How'd you know my name? I never told you my first name, did I? By the way, it's misspelled." Then I left staring at the receipt that said, "THANK YOU, MERCI!"

And lastly...

-We were at Fairview Mall earlier this evening and I volunteered to order the food. Brice wanted something from Grill It Up so I decided that I'd get something from there too to save time. I ordered Tandoori Chicken and I specified that I wanted it mild. When the guy handed me my order, I stared at it surprised (again!). On the container was scribbled, "TAN, M"- my last name and first initial! I guess the guy saw my expression cuz he then said, "That's what you wanted, right? TANdoori Mild? I just smiled like an idiot and left.

Mahn! Even after being 'Canadian' for a while now (over a decade already!), these things still happen to me! But now, I can finally laugh it off and say, "I AM SUCH A FOB!"

It's okay, you can laugh WITH me :-D

HA - HA - HA !