I do, yes. On days when I appear in public, I do it about once a day. Small random comments about weather, local happenings, kids, outfits if I talk to women. For a while, the inflation was a regular topic. When I’m somewhere with Klara, then many people make friendly comments and it’s easy to establish a short conversation.
Talking to strangers is great. It’s lightweight, small-dose sociability that requires very low effort.
Working as a researcher at a University for the last two years. I like the country, but it’s time to come home. I don’t have the time to master the language, culture, history, and politics of a new country like I did in the US. And without that, I’ll always feel like an outsider.
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“working as a researcher at a University for the last two years”
I’ll take your word for it that you’re not Johnny Somali (that is a relief).
It’s my understanding that Korea is not… really open to foreigners… (beyond superficial friendliness to obvious tourists) even more so than Japan (maybe like Japan 50 or so years ago). And Koreans (again this is second hand) are said to be a lot more moody and temperamental than say Japanese….
Interesting place for sure but not for those who don’t have a lot of time to invest in acclimating.
Of course.
Sometimes you have to, and it’s good to stay in practice.
I was painfully shy as a kid, and one of the miniscule number of really useful things school made me do: fundraising for class trips. I went door-to-door around my neighborhood more than once, selling chocolate bars and raffle tickets. It got me past the fear and anxiety of just, approaching strangers, introducing myself, etc. I’m looking for ways to get my kids this kind of practice.
My mother is amazingly good at this. It’s almost a sport for her: sit down with random stranger, talk for five minutes, find the mutual relative/acquaintance that connects you, add to your list of useful contacts (when we moved to another state and couldn’t find a house to rent, she found a friend who had a relative, who knew a landlord in the same county we moved to, and that’s how we got a place to live…). If there were trophies for that, mom would have a wall of them. I’m not world-champion mercenary level like that, but I at least learned how!
Was stuck in airports a lot this week, and chit-chatted with strangers a bit. I don’t get much out of it, but at my age, there is no reason *not* to, say, help anxious moms feel better about traveling with their young children by telling them their kids are great, that sort of thing.
Plus you learn stuff. I’ve been avidly collecting anecdata about church attendance patterns since COVID. Random older churchladies in thrift stores are an information goldmine on this subject 🙂 “What church do you go to?” is a very easy conversation to start.
A conservative literary critic and college professor
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