Whaddaya Know

[Unkotare]

Since this sort of came up in another thread, I got to thinking that it is pretty easy to be born, live, and die in America without overly much interaction with people from other countries. And, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. America is a huge country, and we have more than enough sorts of people for many lifetimes of rich experience. Living in any large American city probably makes it a lot harder to finish the whole game without interacting with folks from other countries, but I wonder how many here have had real, close relationships with people from other countries and how it has influenced your outlook?

 

[Crepitus]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

 

[Ringel05]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

How was Oz?

 

[captkaos]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

I wouldn't be the same person if I didn't finish School. I should move to West Baltimore or maybe Detroit or LA to get some Culture. Idiot!

 

[Wry Catcher]

I've been to Europe (Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal), Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cartagena (Columbia).

My only close relationships were in my early 20's dating a stewardess who was born and raised in Hungary, and a French women a few years older than me who spent a summer with her estranged father who lived in SF.

 

[Crepitus]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

How was Oz?

Brownback kinda ruined the place. We will recover eventually though.

 

[DGS49]

Having had a spotted professional career and working for companies headquartered in England, Korea, Luxembourg, Japan, Germany, Italy, France, and Austria, I had scores of close interactions with people from a wide variety of countries. But then again, they were all "business people" like me, and not a cross section of the people from those countries.

So not surprisingly, most of them were more like me than not. Most of the Europeans had a firm belief that they were "better" than Americans. Better engineers, better lawyers, better negotiators, and so forth. They tried to hide it in meetings and such, but they were not successful.

And maybe it was true.

 

[Crepitus]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

I wouldn't be the same person if I didn't finish School. I should move to West Baltimore or maybe Detroit or LA to get some Culture. Idiot!

Right back atcha kid.

 

[Unkotare]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

I wouldn't be the same person if I didn't finish School. I should move to West Baltimore or maybe Detroit or LA to get some Culture. Idiot!

??????????????

 

[Crepitus]

I've been to Europe and the middle East, and spent significant amounts of time in and around Capetown South Africa (enough to be conversational in Afrikaans), and IMHO it was over all a good thing. I don't really know how to articulate it, but I definitely would not be the same person if I had never left Kansas.

I wouldn't be the same person if I didn't finish School. I should move to West Baltimore or maybe Detroit or LA to get some Culture. Idiot!

??????????????

Just ignore the kid, that's what most of us so.

 

[Dekster]

A Korean guy taught be a lot about pressure points in college. He works with kpop gigs now. I may one day forgive him for his sins against music, but not anytime soon.

 

[night_son]

Since this sort of came up in another thread, I got to thinking that it is pretty easy to be born, live, and die in America without overly much interaction with people from other countries. And, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. America is a huge country, and we have more than enough sorts of people for many lifetimes of rich experience. Living in any large American city probably makes it a lot harder to finish the whole game without interacting with folks from other countries, but I wonder how many here have had real, close relationships with people from other countries and how it has influenced your outlook?

I have travelled extensively with the military since joining the Army in 1991. Prior to that, I went on several mission trips with the United Methodist Church as a teenager. One of those trips was to Jamaica. We went there to help build a Sunday school building in Montego Bay. While there our youth group stayed in a walled compound on top of a jungle covered mountain in a place called Reading, which is a few miles outside of the downtown. The family who hosted us for the duration was an awesome group of people who welcomed us in and made us feel safe and wanted. I'll never forget them, a black Jamaican family whose history on the island went back centuries. They even drove us to Reggae Sunsplash 1989. The entire experience broadened my young mind and exposed my then delicate impression of the realities of life outside America in ways reading about it never could. Montego Bay itself was a study in duality, with massive beach front hotels with rooms going for several thousand per week just blocks from shantytowns of horrible poverty. How did my time spent in Jamaica influence my outlook? It made me want to become a missionary and save the world, or at least make the world a better place for everyone.

Ironically, and even immediately after joining the Army, I still held that dream. And then I was deployed a few years later to an East African city, one that turned out to be uncannily like Montego Bay. The main difference? Even though the people there by and large lived in horrible poverty and near famine, the warlords who controlled the city seized every shipment of food flown in before world aid agencies could distribute it. That was when I realized no matter how well intentioned or full of faith, only a well equipped military force could ever truly help the peoples of the world without dying in the process. And so my dream changed. Instead of using the Army as a stepping stone toward becoming a missionary, I decided to stay in. My worldview hasn't changed to much. I still feel immense affection for peoples of all the cultures I've visited or long term shared a patch of earth with. However, I've also developed a deep, perhaps unfortunate firsthand realization of the depths of inhuman violence people of any culture can visit on each other and those who are different. Perhaps I'm much more jaded than my teenaged self. Personally, I'd call it honestly pessimistic, in a hopeful sort of way.

 

[Rocko]

I’ve been to quite a few places. Got to experience different museums, cuisines, landscapes, customs. I’ve had some different experiences and it’s always interesting to see how other people live outside the tristate area I’m accustomed to. I will say that these experiences were fun, but I don’t think they molded me in any particular way. My environment growing up and where I’ve lived the last twenty years I think has made me who I am. I don’t think culture can really rub off on you unless you’ve experienced it for an extended time.

 

[Unkotare]

I’ve been to quite a few places. Got to experience different museums, cuisines, landscapes, customs. I’ve had some different experiences and it’s always interesting to see how other people live outside the tristate area I’m accustomed to. I will say that these experiences were fun, but I don’t think they molded me in any particular way. My environment growing up and where I’ve lived the last twenty years I think has made me who I am. I don’t think culture can really rub off on you unless you’ve experienced it for an extended time.

What counts as an extended time?

 

[Tijn Von Ingersleben]

Since this sort of came up in another thread, I got to thinking that it is pretty easy to be born, live, and die in America without overly much interaction with people from other countries. And, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. America is a huge country, and we have more than enough sorts of people for many lifetimes of rich experience. Living in any large American city probably makes it a lot harder to finish the whole game without interacting with folks from other countries, but I wonder how many here have had real, close relationships with people from other countries and how it has influenced your outlook?

Contrary to my posts on this site I have always been surrounded by many honest, awesome people of other races and cultures. They have given me love and so many good memories.
Not all of my travels or interactions have been positive but the sum total have been truly special.
I remember the Japanese man who helped me and my wife when we were lost in Tokyo. He told us where to go and paid for our tickets.
I remember the Turkish people is Mercin who shared their food with us.
I remember the Germans who gave me directions and bought me a beer.
I remember the Cambodian taxi driver who spotted me drunk on the street and convinced me to get in his cab because I was in a dangerous part of Phnom Penh.

Lots of love out there.

 

[Rocko]

I’ve been to quite a few places. Got to experience different museums, cuisines, landscapes, customs. I’ve had some different experiences and it’s always interesting to see how other people live outside the tristate area I’m accustomed to. I will say that these experiences were fun, but I don’t think they molded me in any particular way. My environment growing up and where I’ve lived the last twenty years I think has made me who I am. I don’t think culture can really rub off on you unless you’ve experienced it for an extended time.

What counts as an extended time?

I’m not sure, but I think one would have to have lived in another place for awhile...maybe 6 months I guess.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Since this sort of came up in another thread, I got to thinking that it is pretty easy to be born, live, and die in America without overly much interaction with people from other countries. And, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. America is a huge country, and we have more than enough sorts of people for many lifetimes of rich experience. Living in any large American city probably makes it a lot harder to finish the whole game without interacting with folks from other countries, but I wonder how many here have had real, close relationships with people from other countries and how it has influenced your outlook?

I was married to a Mexican for 27 years.
How it influenced my thinking was two things...

1) How well we have it here. (But that is changing)
2) How much better their culture is than ours, specifically how family oriented they are.

 

[sparky]

Since this sort of came up in another thread, I got to thinking that it is pretty easy to be born, live, and die in America without overly much interaction with people from other countries. And, of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. America is a huge country, and we have more than enough sorts of people for many lifetimes of rich experience. Living in any large American city probably makes it a lot harder to finish the whole game without interacting with folks from other countries, but I wonder how many here have had real, close relationships with people from other countries and how it has influenced your outlook?

and i'd be a grand example

reclusive bluecollar redneck living out in dogpatch

i'll only get out feet first too

~S~