Part Nine · 10 of 11

So Many Penguins

Twelve years after I first landed at JFK Airport as a foreign student, I wrote down some of my most embarrassing moments from those early days.

I called my professor Jose “Joe-s,” rhyming with “rose,” many times before I learned it was pronounced “Ho-say.”

A classmate told me her phone had died. I was shocked. A phone died?!

During a lunch break in Union Square, I saw a flock of pigeons and said to my coworker, “Look! So many penguins!”

The day before a work event, I googled what drinks people usually order at a bar.

Someone mentioned U2, and I asked, “What is U2?”

When people asked “How are you?” I answered in detail, only to learn later that it’s usually just a greeting.

These are small pieces of an immigrant’s journey.

Learning, growing, and being baffled.

Trying to laugh when others are laughing.

Trying to fit in, while trying to be myself.