See the World, Make New Friends
A co-teacher from Spain is traveling to Cuba over the Winter break. She and her husband have been teachers in my district for two years and in June they head back to Spain to resume their careers there. I’m so jealous. The only place I’ve ever been “exotic” is Hawaii. Besides that I was born and raised in Southern California and only have been out to a few other states and Mexico. My co-worker is brave and I admire her a lot. I run across people from other countries quite a bit in my life. I’ve sort of developed a “script” when I meet these folks. It goes something like this:
Me: Wow, you’re from {blank} huh? That’s cool.
Them: Yes, I am thank you.
Me: If I could only travel one place there, what is the most beautiful place to see?
Them: {answer}
Collecting those places becomes like a “wish-list” for travel. It also shows the new person you meet that you respect their background and are interested in it. Today I learned a few things about Cuba from my friend and I plan to do a little “armchair traveling” after I blog a little.
Getting to know the “traveled” folks around you will make you a broadened individual. At the same time, asking the question I ask of them will give you a larger set of familiar names to drop when meeting people all over the world. It will help you make friends, influence people, and all that good stuff we all hope for with others.
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