It's been
awhile. It's like my blog has been cast out to sea…I am (slowly) taking steps
to recover it from Davy Jones's locker. It is one of my New Year’s Resolutions
to continue this blog. I've had a series of thoughts that will help segue me get
back into my blog. Today it’s the thanks I have for international friends.
I have friends from here, American friends. They're great and I love them dearly. But lately I’ve been thinking how lucky I am to have friends who represent a wide span of countries across our planet.
A few months ago, I attended a Thanksgiving dinner open to the Piedmont's international population so they could experience an American Thanksgiving. I was joined by people from China, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Nigeria, Egypt and far too many additional to keep track of. For the first time in awhile, I was surrounded with people speaking in SO many languages other than the ones I knew. When not knowing how to communicate, we realize how vital conversation (or understanding communication) is to our lives. Without it, you feel confused, maybe frustrated and left out, leaving you to stand there on the sidelines…at least that’s how I certainly felt!
I was invited to a Diwali celebration. How fortunate
am I to have been invited into my Nepalese friend’s home to celebrate this
special holiday with her family and friends? Again, I found myself very
confused while they sang and danced but made up some lyrics in my head I thought
would be fitting for the revelry J She allowed me to borrow one
of her traditional (and beautiful!!) outfits and taught me about their tasty
meal we had that night. These are a few of the times where I see how wonderful of an
experience it is becoming friends with someone from a different nationality.
I am grateful for the technology that can bring us
together regardless of the miles between us. Thank you for repeating that word
just one more time because I love the way you say it or your accent is
fantastic. Thank you for staying up when time zones may find us in the midst of
completely different places during our day so we could check in. Thank you for allowing
me to ask questions about anything and everything about your culture....and being
so patient about it! I appreciate you teaching me little words or phrases in your
language so I can practice. You know, for future visits ;)
Being friends with people all around the world
allows me to share nuances about my country or culture that intrigue them. For
us, these things are second nature and we don’t even think about them! Thank
you for causing me to step back and question why this is in place or why we do
this here. You’ve helped me to see the ways in which I love my country and also
things I would like changed. Thank you for helping me think about these things
because I may never actually take a moment to think about them.
Thank you for being my friend. We may have only met
once or a handful of times during our travels but know you are special to me.
You share your gift of knowledge with me and I wish to do the same for you.
Let’s stay in touch because you never know when life calls for a visit…with
open hearts and open doors J
