"I hope that this somehow helps all of us, myself included, consider all the wrongs we could right, with friends we had wronged, when we killed things that understand them. "
Thanks for sharing us alongside such wonderful posts! Def reflecting on the notion of reciprocal relationships and how we can show up better for one another. (Sometimes you're the orca, and sometimes you're the trainer 😬)
I missed the survey, but have a story that relates to it.
Back in the day, I oversaw my agency’s aid programs in Sudan. It was so hot in Khartoum that people joked about how it cost a mere quarter of a dollar to call Hell from Khartoum because it was a local call. As you can imagine, it was tough to keep the expatriate positions filled.
There was one new employee from the US who, after he arrived, managed to second a big diesel generator and a half dozen window-mounted air conditioners. Because of the fierce sandstorms, he used rolls of duct tape to seal every actual or imagined opening in his apartment. I remember observing his very real panic when the generator needed service and the temperature in his apartment climbed toward 65 degrees.
Later, we hired an Australian from Queensland who never bothered with air conditioning and who sat around at home in his tidy whiteys without complaining once about the heat.
Different heat strokes for different folks.
Finally, I found the most succinct definition of home I’ve heard so far. Home is where you don’t have to worry about toilet seat hygiene.
hah! I've long said that home is where you poop. I'm just one of those folks who has a better time of eliminating if I'm on my own toilet. :).
that heat though - wow! that's pretty insane. As for the US employee, sad to say but that sounds pretty spot on. Americans in general seem to do very little research into other cultures - even when they plan to travel or work abroad. You, of course, are quite an exception (in all wonderful ways) :)
I overheard a conversation in Amsterdam while waiting for a traffic light to change:
“You American?”
“Yup.”
“Us, too. What countries you doin’?”
“I did Rome.”
“Us, too. Lots of old stuff there.”
“Real old stuff.”
Me: no white sport shoes, no sandals with black socks, no khaki shorts with many pockets, no gaudy aloha shirt, no front facing butt pack, concerned, am I a genetic freak for not being like them?
"I hope that this somehow helps all of us, myself included, consider all the wrongs we could right, with friends we had wronged, when we killed things that understand them. "
I will think about this line for a long time.
Yes! I’m glad you read that post!
Thanks for sharing us alongside such wonderful posts! Def reflecting on the notion of reciprocal relationships and how we can show up better for one another. (Sometimes you're the orca, and sometimes you're the trainer 😬)
I missed the survey, but have a story that relates to it.
Back in the day, I oversaw my agency’s aid programs in Sudan. It was so hot in Khartoum that people joked about how it cost a mere quarter of a dollar to call Hell from Khartoum because it was a local call. As you can imagine, it was tough to keep the expatriate positions filled.
There was one new employee from the US who, after he arrived, managed to second a big diesel generator and a half dozen window-mounted air conditioners. Because of the fierce sandstorms, he used rolls of duct tape to seal every actual or imagined opening in his apartment. I remember observing his very real panic when the generator needed service and the temperature in his apartment climbed toward 65 degrees.
Later, we hired an Australian from Queensland who never bothered with air conditioning and who sat around at home in his tidy whiteys without complaining once about the heat.
Different heat strokes for different folks.
Finally, I found the most succinct definition of home I’ve heard so far. Home is where you don’t have to worry about toilet seat hygiene.
hah! I've long said that home is where you poop. I'm just one of those folks who has a better time of eliminating if I'm on my own toilet. :).
that heat though - wow! that's pretty insane. As for the US employee, sad to say but that sounds pretty spot on. Americans in general seem to do very little research into other cultures - even when they plan to travel or work abroad. You, of course, are quite an exception (in all wonderful ways) :)
I overheard a conversation in Amsterdam while waiting for a traffic light to change:
“You American?”
“Yup.”
“Us, too. What countries you doin’?”
“I did Rome.”
“Us, too. Lots of old stuff there.”
“Real old stuff.”
Me: no white sport shoes, no sandals with black socks, no khaki shorts with many pockets, no gaudy aloha shirt, no front facing butt pack, concerned, am I a genetic freak for not being like them?
Rome is a country with real old things 🤦🏻♀️
I heard Egypt has a lot of old stuff, too.
hah!