Ignorance is bliss.

Don't get me wrong. America is awesome. And what better time to talk about its greatness than today. I am grateful to this country for all the opportunities it has given me. I'm grateful for the education, the friends, the love of my life. When someone called it the Land of Opportunities, they knew what they were talking about. It is here where I've had my fair share of firsts: first paycheck, first car, first snow, first basketball game, first monster truck show, first attempt at cooking. This country has a lot to offer and one thing abundant in this country: ignorance. I've had some really interesting encounters with some really ... let's just say curious ... people in almost 4 years here. I've had the randomest people come up to me and ask the randomest questions. Not helping this is the fact that my foreign-ness can be spotted from very far away, that I have an accent, that I live in a very white state and go to a very white school. Here are some of the most memorable conversations:

• Person: "So..Pakistanis are Arabs, right?"
  Me: "No."
  Person: "THEN WHAT ARE THEY?"

• Person: "You're Sikh right?"
  [Me: Never thought I would be asked this. Thought the sign on my head said what faith I followed.]

• Person: "Well I don't know if you're a practicing Muslim."
  [Me: Thought the thing on my head was pretty self-explanatory.]

• Person: "So do you have an arranged marriage?"
  [Me: Yes, and I also have a child marriage, FGM, honor killing, *insert all other stereotypes*]

• Random lady at Statue of Liberty: "ARE YOU FROM EGYPT?"
  
• Person: "Can you marry anyone you like?"
  [Me: "No my husband was chosen for me when I was born. He's waiting for me in Pakistan.]

• Person: "Have you ever been to Bag-dad?"
  [Me: "You mean Baghdad?"]
  Person: "Have you ever been anywhere in Eye-rack?"
  [Me: "You mean Iraq?"]
  Person: "Yeah I wouldn't wanna go to Bag-dad myself."
  [Me: "You know they were doing just fine before you started bombing them."]
  Person: "Have you ever met a Taliban?"
  [Me: "They don't walk around saying they are Taliban, you know?"]
  Person: "What about someone from Al-Qaeda?"
  Me: *walks off*

• Person: "Pakistan is in India right?"

• Person: "Could you speak English before you came here?"

• Person: "Do you speak another language? What is it called?"
  Me: "Urdu."
  Person: "So do most people in the Middle East speak Urdu?"

• Person: "So do you wear this (points to own head) at home too?"

• Person: "So you are from Pakistan originally?"
  Me: "Yes."
  Person: "Yeah I visited India last year."

• Person: "Do they teach you how to wrap this?" *points to her head*
  [Me: "THEY didn't have to. I was born with this attached to my head."]

• Random person on Mass. St. playing some instrument as I walk out of Signs of Life: "Assalam Alaikum! Shukran shukran for having coffee at a Christan place and doing good things and making this world a better place."
  Me: *speechless*
  Person: "Have you ever been to XYZ church?"
  Me: "No."
  Person: "My mom teaches ESL there to Middle Eastern immigrants. You should go."
  [Me: Pretty sure I'm not Middle Eastern. Pretty sure my English is better than yours and I don't need those classes.]

• Person: "Wow! If you hadn't told me, I would've never guessed English wasn't your first language. You don't have an accent at all!"
  [Me: Wow! You're not a big fat liar at all!]

• 3 months in the US of A and person asks: "Did you learn English in America?"
  [Me: Yup! Because it is totally possible to be speaking a language in 3 months.]

Of course, this list will grow as I spend more time here and I'll be adding to it. I'm just asking people to slow down a little on the judgments and the assumptions. If people want to base their opinions about me on what they see on FOX, then I'm going to be basing my generalizations on Hollywood, too. According to Sex and the City, there are skyscrapers everywhere, everyone rides in limos driven by chauffeurs, skinny bitches walk the town in five inch heels, and sleep around. Hollywood didn't prepare me for cows and haystacks, you know? So I am terribly disappointed. Till then, let's go and watch some fireworks. God Bless your Ignorance.