Embarrassing experiences learning Mandarin

Dreamkevkev (Canada)

One day me and my cousin was having lunch at the canteen, we weren't sure if the word "tongzhi" （同志）could still be used, as we know it was a word used in China ages ago, so we decided to ask some girls in the canteen! So my cousin went up to 4 girls (Mandarin speaker) and said " excuse me tongzhi where is the toilet?" in Mandarin............well I guess the reaction was not what we expected!! Well one of them burst out laughing, one nearly choked on some food, one was saying "can't you see we are eating, don't talk like that!", and one had food bursting out of her mouth!!!!