Meeting Locals

My most memorable was being invited to a Korean wedding. Of 600-700 guests, we two couples were the only non-Koreans. It was Thanksgiving day back in the states. Our thanksgiving dinner consisted of muscles (very good), jellyfish (hopelessly chewy), and dog tongue (didn't try it).

We rode on charter busses from a small city to Seoul for the wedding. On the way, the bus pulled over and half the people (men, women and children) got off and urinated in the ditch on the side of the road.

On the return bus, we had acapella karaoke. People sang sad sounding songs with tears rolling down their eyes (not sure if it was the beer or if they were country-western songs). They handed me the mike so I sang an Elvis Costello classic while people clapped along.

We were surprised by an invitation to a Greek baptism. The entire village was there. We were the only non-Greeks. The service was followed by a celebration at a taverna nearby. The whole party was very kind to us including the family hosting the activities. They provided a multi course dinner for everyone with lots of wine and dancing. They even gave us gifts. Some of the folks sitting near us knew enough English to keep us informed of what was taking place. We didn't expect to be there but we'll always remember what a great time we had.

I'll always remember the young English couple on Mull in Scotland on 9/11 who took time to not only chat and empathize with an American traveling solo, but also helped me search for other Americans. We never did find any, but it didn't matter as I had good company on a very bad day.

Before one of my trips, I met this lovely couple on one of the Disney boards. They met my husband, friend and me, showed us around London and took us to this great Indian place.

I also met another nice woman who took us to Windsor Castle, to our first cream tea, and all over the non touristy parts of London.

Both people trusted that we were not some crazy Americans, and to this day we still remain great friends.

In Valencia, Spain last September...
I went to Spain with my father-who had never been to Europe before, and we got into a fight one evening and went our separate ways for a few hours.
I stopped to grab a bite to eat and a glass of wine, and was invited to listen/watch a group that were studying and learning to play traditional Spanish music. I was shown photos from a few of the men that played as young teens in the early 60's, and was almost coaxed into singing along.
It was so much fun, and was told I had friends to come back and visit anytime! A great end to a frustrating day!

On a RS tour in Italy, we stopped for a big lunch in a smallish town. A young blond woman greeted us with "hi" and helped serve us our lunch. She seemed to speak English well. I asked one of our tour members how it was that someone in this out-of-the-way place could speak such good English. The answer: "She's English!" Duh.

When I was in Siegen, Germany for my 2nd "year" of German (crammed into 4 weeks of immersion), I was sitting at the bus stop waiting to catch the bus to the university when an elderly lady sat next to me and struck up a conversation. She spoke ZERO English so it was a fabulous opportunity for me to practice the German I was learning. She was extremely complimentary of my accent and when I told her my grandfather was Swiss, she said, "ah, THAT is why you speak so well." Considering the vast difference between Siegerlander plattdeutsch and Schweizer deutsch, it still makes me smile.