So the US has been treating me well, but I have some catching up to do when it comes to open-mindedness.
I remember barging into the female’s lavatory when I was still little, wanting to show people that I indeed am slightly different from the norm as I attempted things in a way that the society finds it disapproving but in someway, humorous because I was just a little kid, because as what we’ve learnt through experience in our lives is that little kids can practically get away with anything that’s wrong or crime-based to a grown up/mature individual.
Before I start digressing and going into the details of my obnoxious childhood behavior, allow me to continue. So in the US, it’s a total different thing from what I did when I was of young age, girls enter the men’s lavatory instead.
I had several encounters in the men’s lavatory that involves females. I’ve seen head of girls popping out of the cubicles through the reflection of the mirror when I was brushing my teeth. I’ve seen pink high heels instead flip-flops or shoes through that 6 inches gap beneath the cubicles. I’ve been warned by a bunch of girls not to come out from the shower cubicle without a towel wrapped around my waist because it’s going to take them about 1 minute to pee. And later on, I’ve heard them calling out to somebody outside the lavatory to help them with the door because apparently, they were being locked in. Those were fun encounters.
But if those weren’t entertaining enough, I have something else to share with you guys. It was a fine Thursday night, a night where most Americans would go to the bar or clubs to get themselves drunk and all wasted because there usually won’t be any classes on Friday, when I was doing my stuff and my roommates were doing theirs although it’s way past midnight. Us Malaysians just love staying up, aren’t we?
So I was doing my stuff when suddenly the door of my dorm room slammed shut, indicating that someone just came in or went out. “Bam!” is what you’ll hear when the door shuts itself. The nosy me couldn’t help but to put a halt to what I was doing every single time that noise came beating on my eardrums, pop my head to the other side of the wall and take a peek at the door to see who was coming in or going out. It’s like every moment when that happened, I am bringing myself closer to possessing a great potential of working at front desks, registering people who’re entering or leaving any particular building.
So as usual, I took a peek and saw a big-sized black American walking into our room without giving us any prior notice that he has an intention of entering our room by knocking at our door or whatsoever. It was weird that some stranger just barged into your room for no apparent reasons, but it’s even weirder when he started taking off his pants. I have no enthusiasm in watching a guy being bottom-less, so I turned away the moment I saw his erm.. pubic hair. He was doing it slow-mo so I get the chance to turn away before I stumbled upon little Johnson.
I sat still at my chair wondering what’s happening at the other side of the wall when I heard a sound so positively correlated to a guy peeing on a carpeted floor that without looking I was hell sure what’s actually going on. It was a long pee he took. The reason for me being a bystander is that I wasn’t sure if he’s drunk or he’s sleep-walking. In either condition, it’s a bad idea to wake him up and kindly ask him to buzz off.
First, if you failed to wake a sleep-walker, he might end up peeing on you than on the carpet, in which the latter is not that bad, just that it needs a little cleaning afterwards. Having pee on you? No thank you. Second, if he’s drunk and you’re trying your best to ask him not to pee in your room, you might end up Rihanna-fied. Or what’s worse, he might gun you down because it’s the US??! That’s the last thing that could happen to you in Unis, but who knows What fate awaits you? Third, what if he’s completely conscious of his doings and that was exactly his intention? You might as well say byebye to tomorrow’s sunlight if you acted all hero when you Asian is so tiny. So I did what I do best, nothing. And waited for the rainbows to come out.
So there he left, a puddle of pee for us. How thoughtful…
The following day, today, a Friday, I walked past my RA’s room and saw this written on the whiteboard outside her room, “No peeing on this door – 403.” I guess it wasn’t only my room that fell prey to this peeing monster that roamed the floor of GK at night.
On another note, ever wonder what it takes a person to snatch the final portion of his favorite food from someone who’s waiting in the line? So I went to Hubbell Dining Hall rather late today, few minutes before it closes to be exact.
Today’s food did not leave me much choice and it did not taste good at all, so I decided to go for the pizzas. Because Hubbell was just about to close, they weren’t making any more pizzas, and just nice, I was the forth in line when there were exactly 4 pizzas left. I was behind 3 rather small sized girls and I was pretty sure they were going to have a piece each and leave the final piece for me. So grabbed a plate and waited I did.
When my turn came, this guy came walking swiftly towards my direction, grabbed hold of the final piece of pizza with his hand and walked right past me, ignoring my presence totally. How much ruder can he be? I wonder…
The girl standing in front turned towards me, as if awaiting a dramatic reaction or some sort, but once again, I shrugged it off and showed her the what-can-i-do face. You’ll get used to meeting all sorts of people in this vastly diversified society. Well, good luck to us!
