My first trip to Europe was in 1961 with the University of Illinois Varsity Men’s Glee Club. We sang a series of ten concerts in Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Germany and France. What an eye-opening series of events for a young Illinois dairy farmer!
The University of Bergen (Norway) Men’s Glee club, for example, is a lifelong membership; our joint concert had singers many years our seniors. In Germany, the Berlin Wall was just two weeks old. So when we arrived in Berlin, there was an intensely political climate, particularly since we were an official US State Department-sponsored tour.
In the intervening fifty-four years I have done an extensive amount of travel on business throughout the world (except for Africa) in Communist and non-Communist countries. The differences in cultures, business approaches, and how the people interact with foreigners are as varied as the countries themselves. There were new things to learn everywhere.
One of the early lessons was that it is good to be silent and listen and watch things unfold before you. This way, you can observe local customs, see how things are done, and compensate for not knowing the language.
This skill, acquired over many years has served me well. Being observant has the benefit also of making you unobtrusive while you learn the ropes.
When I came back from that first trip, taken sixteen years after the end of World War II, I vowed to spend a big piece of my life traveling the world and learning how people live, what inspires them, how they deal with problems, and how much they have to teach us.
This spot on www.johnwinings.com thus will be a place where you can find short pieces about experiences, cultural observations, lessons learned, and how much fun it is to be exposed to new experiences around the world. Especially in Haiti.