“We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, while others bright, some have weird names, but they all have learned to live together in the same box. ”

— Robert Fulghum

One of the interesting things about hosting an exchange student is that you think about other cultures, foods, languages, and countries more often.

Postcards of the same basic size and shape above my desk from Albania, France, Italy, Romania, America, Australia, Egypt and an odd-shaped one from Bulgaria in the lower middle right.

For example, since Yekaterina (Kate) from Kazakhstan has come to stay with us, we’ve had leek pie and russian cherry pie for the first time. I’ve learned several Russian words (shown here in phonetic spelling) such as “privyet” (hello), “polka” (goodbye), and “Dieter myen poujousta vodee” (can I have some water?).

We’ve talked a lot about the countries with which we have connections, or at least tenuous connections – France, Spain, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, Greece, Italy, Canada, Germany, Ukraine, Thailand, Norway, and Albania. And we’ve talked about countries we’d like to visit someday – Scotland, Australia, Sweden, etc.

Through all this talk, we’ve found that we have quite a few differences in language and look, food and religion, economics and politics. Underneath it all though, we’re still pretty much the same. We all want a good education, a safe and dry place to sleep, good food to eat, and a job to help us keep those things. Different, yet the same.

Just like the postcards on my wall.

While the images on the postcards may have different pictures, colors, labels, and languages, they’re all the same basic size and shape. All made from more or less the same paper. On the surface they’re different. At the core, they’re the same. Except the one from Bulgaria.

Kind of like people. And although it goes without saying, it still should be said …

… while we may be different on the surface, we’re still all pretty much the same at the core.

If you live in another country, or are traveling, I’d love to receive a post card. In exchange, I’ll send you one from Oregon.  Just send me an email at this link, and we’ll hook up addresses.

Yesterday’s gift of time … Spoke at the Future Stars youth Toastmasters club and met with a friend about an exciting new non-profit venture of which I’m going to be a part … Today’s gift of time … Goodwill with many bags of donated clothes.