Saturday 8 February 2014

Do you have an iPhone?


Now, I can bet five bucks you (Yes, you!) have been, once, asked this while making acquaintance with somebody you've just met at the bar five minutes ago (Or is it just me?). 
Oh boy. You, then, with a downhearted grimace, muster the courage, man-up (Sorry, ladies), look at the person in the eye and before the words fall out, look away and what are the chances your initial respond sounds something like, "Umm, naah, man..I'm aah not really an Apple person..y'know.."?

Before I get ahead of myself, I would like to add that I'm a foreign exchange student currently in New York and as much sense the title makes right now, it won't once you know what really happened.

I don't really know where to begin so I'll jump right in. This kid (A freshman, I believe) walked up to me in the hallway, leaned against the locker next to mine, and asked me something. Now, just so you know, I'm not hating on anybody, but the absurdness of that question made me wince. In fact, time actually froze for a second and my facial expression went from that of a jolly teenager to...

His speech sounded something like this.
"Hey, man, so I was wondering, umm, how do you guys travel in your country, I mean, like umm, you don't have cars, so, umm, do you ride camels?"

Needless to say, I was like..

Matter of fact, yes, we do.

Moving on. 
Back to the iPhone I never had.
A couple of months ago, I gave this presentation about Pakistan in one of the Global Studies classes in my high school. Everything went great. In fact, judging from the vibrant atmosphere and the shimmering eyes of the kid in the first row, I was positive they were having a good time. Their enthusiasm manifested itself, later on, in the questions they asked after the session.
The questions varied from racism in Pakistan to me being rich and were diverse as New York City's population. But curiosity killed the cat, didn't it?
They started getting out of hand. Funny, actually. These are some of the questions I encountered. 

1) Do you have iPhone(s) where you come from? Is Apple really a thing there, or just a fruit? (Hence, the title)
2) Do you have slaves there? Do you own a slave? 
3) Do you have internet there? (No, sweetie. I'll ignore the fact that you're following me on Twitter)
4) Do you know someone who is a terrorist? (LOLWUT)
5) Do you live in a house or a tent?
6) Do you have a lot of sand there? Have you ever seen snow?
7) Have you ever shot a gun at someone? (Kid was a huge fan of The Lone Survivor)
8) Have you ever seen grass? Do you have trees there?

I can go on and on with these questions and each question will surpass the former in terms of hilarity and my amusement. 

Nevertheless, it was a great experience. I had a great time. It felt amazing. Magical (Kinda). I made a difference. We all did. Isn't that what really matters?

Unquote.

3 comments:

  1. And we are the 3rd world country? Man!

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  2. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I'm sorry I laughed because this is such a serious issue (the ignorance of people in the West) but honestly this post was hilarious.
    Loved the images, you really make great use of them!

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    Replies
    1. It's true and hilarious simulatenously. Nevertheless, me and my friends from YES11 are scattered all over the Unites States and are doing their utmost for the betterment of Pakistan.
      And oh, thanks a bunch for the feedback!

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