Foreign Affairs

No. I’m not talking about romantic trysts with a beautiful Parisian. Let me try again, foreign relations. Wait, that doesn’t sound much better! I’m talking about my life experiences with people who do not live in the good old USA. Most of those experiences came from a job I had in the 90s that allowed me to travel the world. I got to know real people in real towns, not just tourist resorts. My life has been enriched immensely by that experience.

I don’t travel anymore, much past Pennsylvania, but I get my dose of foreign connections through Facebook. Yes, that evil social media does provide great learning experiences. I have four Facebook “friends” from foreign countries. Three of them I am in contact with regularly. The first is Ana Maria, from Toluca, Mexico. She was our exchange student in 1991-92. She spent her senior year at William Allen High School. She hated it. Three decades later, I still get to learn about her life as a wife and mother in her beloved Toluca.

Next is Vadim, currently living in France. I first met him when he was doing a post doctorate fellowship at Lehigh. He is a physicist and one of the smartest, and funniest, people I know. He grew up in communist Russia. He likes to challenge my thinking every time I show my democratic socialist leanings with a Facebook post. I think we have a good exchange of ideas. That alone makes life more interesting. I treasure our connection.

Alison lives in Melbourne, Australia. We met by playing Words with Friends. I am learning so much about her country through our chats. She is delightful to talk to as we compare the similarities and differences, in politics, culture, geography, and family life, between our two countries. Did you know that you can go for a walk, in her area of Australia, and see kangaroos much like we see whitetail deer here? I didn’t either! I now know what a bogan is. We have them here, but we call them rednecks.

Lastly, and the one I have lost touch with, is Thembo from Uganda. I met him through a friend of mine who did some Doctors Without Borders volunteering in Uganda. I believe he is now living in Canada. He did a lot of work trying to improve the lives of his fellow Ugandans.

Any time we have the opportunity to learn more about other countries, we should take it. It’s a big, wide wonderful world out there. Explore it any way you can!