I listened as the two ladies talked. I could understand most of their words, but sometimes I struggled to keep up. They were using a vocabulary that I'm still learning, concepts that aren't everyday to me. I was feeling my way along. Better to listen than to open your mouth and look stupid, I thought. I contributed a little, but I mostly just agreed with what they were saying, because I wasn't sure how to say my thoughts in their words. I struggled to follow the language, the thought flow. This is its own world.
I wasn't overseas.
I was sitting in my supervisor's office at my social services job here in rural New Hampshire. The experience transported me back to the living rooms of my girlfriends in the Middle East. It was the same feeling--understanding much of what they were saying, but nodding and agreeing more than talking because I couldn't express myself in their language. The same sense of needing to watch and listen closely to learn, the same mild fear that I might blunder.
The requisite personal qualities are the same: humility, sensitivity, desire to learn. I knew they were useful overseas. But they're kinda handy here, too.
I wasn't overseas.
I was sitting in my supervisor's office at my social services job here in rural New Hampshire. The experience transported me back to the living rooms of my girlfriends in the Middle East. It was the same feeling--understanding much of what they were saying, but nodding and agreeing more than talking because I couldn't express myself in their language. The same sense of needing to watch and listen closely to learn, the same mild fear that I might blunder.
The requisite personal qualities are the same: humility, sensitivity, desire to learn. I knew they were useful overseas. But they're kinda handy here, too.
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