New and Interesting People

One of the great things about travelling abroad is that you have the opportunity to meet new and interesting people. Here I am sitting with an Aboriginal tribesman (He's on the left.) He's playing a Didjuridu and was playing what he called indiginous music. to be honest it sounded like the beginning of Aeromsith's "Sweet Emotion" but who am I to question him. Actually when he was taking a break I swear I saw him checking his Blackberry and drinking a Starbuck's Latte.

I should also mention that many people are incredibly interested in what's going on back home with the election. There is an overwhelming hope (no pun intended) that we elect candidate Obama. If you're interested in other people's perspectives, people outside of the U.S. still cannot believe we elected Mr. Bush to a second term. They think he's an idiot and has adversely impacted the country in so many ways that it will be decades before we recover.

There's a real hope that we in the U.S. can pull ourselves not only out of our current issues, i.e. war, economic downturns, but maybe gain a better perspective of how we live. I met one woman who stated that she loved people from the U.S. but feels sorry for us in that we live in a constant state of fear. She feels that our government and the special interests adversely affect the way people live and are robbing us of our personal freedom. I fear she may be right.

In the very little travelling I've done outside the country I have been exposed to people who display a certain confodence I don't see at home. They seem to value the quality of life and have a much better work life balance. Even the people in the occassionally stuffy and impersonal world of insurance seem to embrace one another in a way that I wish we would. Bosses and front line entry level workers mix at the pub during lunch or after work. Family and personal time is valued and embraced. It's an interesting and enlightening thing to see.

There's no doubt that as temporary visitor I'm seeing things with rose colored glasses. But for me, I'll take the positives from the experiences and try to implement them in my own life, and I don't just mean going to the pub more often...