[l]When I arrived in the United States for the first time, which was back in 1986, there was a friend of mine traveling with me
We’ve met some Saudi guys in the airport of the city which was our final destination who were studying there some of them helped us to find an apartment to live in, and they helped us to find furniture as well
One of these guys terrifically loved making troubles to his friends for the sake of fun and he found my little knowledge of English at that time to be a good opportunity for making a heavy joke of me
By the third day of our arrival he invited me to a dinner at one of the good restaurants in downtown Phoenix, Arizona about 10 miles away of Tempe where our apartment was located, I didn’t know that it’s a habit of that guy to trouble his friends when I accepted his invitation and I went with him to that restaurant
We had our dinner and spent sometime having coffee after the dinner, then the guy requested me to excuse him to go to the car to bring his wallet as he forgot it there
I remained seated waiting for him for more than an hour but he didn’t come back, the restaurant has to close by 2 in the morning and I should have left before that time when the time was about 2, I paid the bill and left the restaurant to know that my friend has gone, leaving me alone in a city that I was not familiar with using my little English to communicate with people
Because it was only 3 days for me in the city or rather in the whole country and because I came to that place with my friend I didn’t care of carrying my apartment address with me
I was carrying money but I couldn’t take a taxi as I didn’t know the address of my apartment, the good thing is that the phone number of the apartment was with me and I called my roommate to take the address from him, this dialogue has taken place between me and my roommate:
Hello, this is Mohammed speaking “He answered”
Hello Mohammed, can you give me the address of our apartment? “I asked”
The address? “he wondered”
Yes the address “I replied”
Why do you want the address “he asked’
Well…..then I explained the story to him
God! Are you serious? I can’t believe that “he said”
That’s not to be discussed now I need the address for the taxi driver please “ I said’
I’m afraid to tell you that I don’t know it but I remember the name of the street that’s all I know “he said”
Then I said that’s ok what’s the name of the street? And he gave it to me
As I said, my English was poor at that time, and I wanted to ask one of the restaurant’s staff to call me a taxi, one of the few words that I knew at that time was that they call a taxi “a cab” and they also call a police officer “a cub” there is a slight difference between the pronunciations of these two words.
When I asked the restaurant waiter to call me a taxi I told him, “Would you call me a cub please” instead of saying “a cab”
Why? are you in trouble do you need help? He replied
No thanks I just need a cub “I made the same mistake again” Then he dialed the number for me and gave me the phone handset to talk:
Hello… “I said’
Yes this is Phoenix police station may I help you ‘the other person on the line said”
What? A Police station? Oh! I’m sorry I got a wrong number then I hung up
Then I spoke to the guy of the restaurant why did you call the police station for me, then he said that’s what you requested me to do! Then I said “ No I didn’t, I requested you to call me a taxi, and he said ..oh my God then you needed a cab not a cub
I hope I didn’t bore you with this story….thankyou[/l]