One of the greatest parts of my job is working with college students. They bring such joy and a different take on life. Their worlds are so different from mine and really most adults. I wonder sometimes if I was that naive…and I’m sure the answer is yes. 🙂
In my department, we employ students of all ethnicities, which is really cool. Many of the students come to the U.S. just to go to college. I can’t even imagine how hard that must be. My international students are great though. They are so eager to learn about American culture and have no problem asking what something means or how to say something in English. Here’s a couple examples.
My student worker from Turkey was talking about the beautiful weather and her plans to go hang out in the nice weather after work. She said, “what is it called with the birds go cheep-cheep-cheep? what’s that called in English?” I had to stop and think. I almost responded with “Tweeting.” no, no, no. Then I responded with “Chirping, it’s called chirping.” She said, “Ahhh, ok, chirping the birds are chirping lots. I whistle at them and they stop and look and then they chirp back and me.”
I wish you could hear her accent. It’s awesome!
One of my Indian student workers (Gautam) turns to the other student worker (Chase), and proceeds to ask what an O-R-G-I-E-S was! Yes, he really spelled it out. As I heard the letters being spelled out I was thinking, “Oh my. Is he really spelling what I think he’s spelling?” My eyes about popped out of my head. Chase responded in a very diplomatic way and Gautam was like “Reeee-ally?” They both looked back and me to see my face turning completely red. Not sure if Gautam was embarrassed or not, but sure was. Turned out he read the word in a textbook. Not sure what orgies have to do with his major, engineering….