These four nationalities met in a German car (Volkswagen) for a two-hour journey to similar destinations, all from different occupations and headed for different weekend activities. They all shared in common the need to save on the cost of traveling in Germany and also the need for each other for companionship as the drive continued. The Kenyan, me, is normally a talkative guy but he met his match this day. The Turkish guy was soon asleep as we joined the highway traffic, but the German and Russian talked animatedly about their jobs and families. Strange how much information people can share with each other in fifteen minutes.
Soon, the Turkish guy woke up from his short slumber and immediately joined the conversation. The topic of discussion moved from families and jobs, to German hospitality and the standards of hospitality in other countries. The Turkish and Russian felt that Germans are not as hospitable as the people are in other countries. They felt that Germans were too selective in their friendships, but it seems they haven't read my blog post on German Hospitality :-) The German did her best to defend her Fatherland (it is not the Motherland in Germany) and she was actually quite good at interrupting the men. The best thing was, the discussion never threatened to escalate into a quarrel. They remained cordial and respectful all the time, although the Russian guy had to drop out of the conversation once in a while to focus on driving.
After and hour's drive, we needed to refill the fuel tank and so we stopped. I went to the nice little room downstairs ;-) and they stood outside chatting. Upon my return, I was the only one who wasn't smoking and who appeared to notice the cold weather outside. We got back in the car and after an hour we arrived at the Frankfurt Airport where I took a train to my destination. We were all so different, but for the need to save on costs and boredom, we found something to unite us. How many times do we fight over things, when all we need for unity is right there with us?
Soon, the Turkish guy woke up from his short slumber and immediately joined the conversation. The topic of discussion moved from families and jobs, to German hospitality and the standards of hospitality in other countries. The Turkish and Russian felt that Germans are not as hospitable as the people are in other countries. They felt that Germans were too selective in their friendships, but it seems they haven't read my blog post on German Hospitality :-) The German did her best to defend her Fatherland (it is not the Motherland in Germany) and she was actually quite good at interrupting the men. The best thing was, the discussion never threatened to escalate into a quarrel. They remained cordial and respectful all the time, although the Russian guy had to drop out of the conversation once in a while to focus on driving.
After and hour's drive, we needed to refill the fuel tank and so we stopped. I went to the nice little room downstairs ;-) and they stood outside chatting. Upon my return, I was the only one who wasn't smoking and who appeared to notice the cold weather outside. We got back in the car and after an hour we arrived at the Frankfurt Airport where I took a train to my destination. We were all so different, but for the need to save on costs and boredom, we found something to unite us. How many times do we fight over things, when all we need for unity is right there with us?
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