Yes although it's against the law here. I see people staring into their phones crossing the street, walking down the street, stopped at a red light...You'd think they were attached to people's hands.
Working in a refugee agency in Newcastle 2003-6 I met several Zimbabwean asylum-seekers. All super people, smart, shrewd, courteous, well-educated (one of the things the new regime hadn’t yet wrecked was apparently education, for which Zimbabwe had a very high reputation). It brought home to me the disastrous loss a rotten regime like Mugabe’s could impose on a new country that should have had so much going for it😢
From what I understand, education is now dead and buried in Zimbabwe, tragically. And of course it is. Everyone who had the means to leave did, and for decades the state has had no ability to train and pay teachers. 🥲
Sometimes normal people have exciting stories that you never expect. I worked in a cleaning company, and I met one of the older workers, who had unusual energy. He told me that he spoke two languages in addition to his mother tongue, that with the money he saved working abroad he built a company that grew a lot over time, and that after several decades of success, due to a change in criteria of a client, he had to close, paying all his debts, and first, to his workers. He only had his house left. He worked as a cleaner to be able to contribute for his retirement, since no one hired him because of his age, despite his great management experience.
Regarding the taxi driver's reaction, he is just great. Some time ago some people, when other drivers insulted them, they sent them a kiss back. They get very angry!
Yes, I have done the kiss. Funny how people can get enraged if you are not as enraged as they are, hahaha. And for sure about "normal people" stories. I hear "normal" people's stories all the time. This week I met a friend at a tennis court where he was giving a lesson (in the Malaysian backwater of Kota Kinabalu). I was early, so I saw down to watch. And eventually my friend and his student came over for a break and to chat. Turns out the student (a local man in his early 50s) had been a very good fencer when he was younger, and had nearly gone to the Olympics. So, a near-Olympian. Excellent strokes, for a guy who had taken up the game only three years before ("because I realized that none of the sports I did involved a ball, and I thought I should try something with a ball"), but surprisingly (for a fencer) lazy footwork. Anyway, I asked him how many fencers there are in Kota Kinabalu, and he said, "Around 2,000." What?!? Nine clubs, around 2,000 active fencers. Crazy. And of course mostly due to this guy's organisation and inspiration. Super-interesting.
Yes although it's against the law here. I see people staring into their phones crossing the street, walking down the street, stopped at a red light...You'd think they were attached to people's hands.
Great story. Thanks. I'll bet not everyone who takes a taxi is as interested in the driver as you are.
That’s especially true now. Most people are on their phones.
Working in a refugee agency in Newcastle 2003-6 I met several Zimbabwean asylum-seekers. All super people, smart, shrewd, courteous, well-educated (one of the things the new regime hadn’t yet wrecked was apparently education, for which Zimbabwe had a very high reputation). It brought home to me the disastrous loss a rotten regime like Mugabe’s could impose on a new country that should have had so much going for it😢
From what I understand, education is now dead and buried in Zimbabwe, tragically. And of course it is. Everyone who had the means to leave did, and for decades the state has had no ability to train and pay teachers. 🥲
So I’d assume 😢
Sometimes normal people have exciting stories that you never expect. I worked in a cleaning company, and I met one of the older workers, who had unusual energy. He told me that he spoke two languages in addition to his mother tongue, that with the money he saved working abroad he built a company that grew a lot over time, and that after several decades of success, due to a change in criteria of a client, he had to close, paying all his debts, and first, to his workers. He only had his house left. He worked as a cleaner to be able to contribute for his retirement, since no one hired him because of his age, despite his great management experience.
Regarding the taxi driver's reaction, he is just great. Some time ago some people, when other drivers insulted them, they sent them a kiss back. They get very angry!
Yes, I have done the kiss. Funny how people can get enraged if you are not as enraged as they are, hahaha. And for sure about "normal people" stories. I hear "normal" people's stories all the time. This week I met a friend at a tennis court where he was giving a lesson (in the Malaysian backwater of Kota Kinabalu). I was early, so I saw down to watch. And eventually my friend and his student came over for a break and to chat. Turns out the student (a local man in his early 50s) had been a very good fencer when he was younger, and had nearly gone to the Olympics. So, a near-Olympian. Excellent strokes, for a guy who had taken up the game only three years before ("because I realized that none of the sports I did involved a ball, and I thought I should try something with a ball"), but surprisingly (for a fencer) lazy footwork. Anyway, I asked him how many fencers there are in Kota Kinabalu, and he said, "Around 2,000." What?!? Nine clubs, around 2,000 active fencers. Crazy. And of course mostly due to this guy's organisation and inspiration. Super-interesting.
An army of fencers!!! :O
🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺🤺