Spare a Square Expats

Love him or hate him, Jerry Seinfeld had a pretty stinkin' funny episode titled "Spare a Square" on his TV series. Elaine is stuck in a bathroom stall without toilet paper. Now never, would you ever approach a complete stranger to give you something, noneless someone you can't even see. Unless you needed them to "spare a square". This is one of the few times a total social faux pau can be acceptable in order for the greater good or comfort.

The other day I take the boys to McDonalds and we are served some strange Wasabi dip for our nuggets. We give it a shot, but then it ended up being pushed aside. Next, a Latin woman sits right next to us in a long row of empty seats at the "bar stool" section. She holds her silence as long as she can stand it until she blurts (faster than my ears could adjust where her accent was from) "May I have your sauce". Surely it must've been her accent I wasn't understanding. Of course she wasn't surpassing the Sparin' a Square faux pau by asking for the left overs of my sauce.

Then she goes on to explain "I am a student, I traveled all the way out here to McDonalds just for this sauce. After they gave me my nuggets, they told me they were out of Wasabi. So may I?" "Of course" I reply. Of course. Of course I kept saying over and over in my head. Then it hit me that nobody would ask me for something like this, okay maybe my sister. And in this great big country, I was the closest thing this girl had to a sister. Of course. I later wondered why I didn't offer.

So many expats are here for different reasons. We are naturally drawn to each other. Like Mariana, who I just met from Italy. I've never played tennis with a full-blooded Italian before. She won the match, but I loved the few hits I got in that caused her to burst out in Italian swear words. I'd never heard them before. Ever. Swear words never sounded so sweet!

So many people feel alone when they arrive here. But, no where else have I lived where you look for the curly hair, or the brown hair, just to make eye contact, smile and say, in English "hello!" Which would, all together in one word summarize: "I love it here too, and I totally understand what you're going through here in a foreign country. And I would not only spare ya a square, but would you like some Wasabi too?."