Recently we’ve had family visit from Pittsburgh. Shayla, Aaron’s sister, and her husband Sean stayed only for a week. Of course we reconnected with them with late night talks and daily outings. As always, it was too short a visit. Toward the end, Aaron and I agreed how much we relish our visitors and hope to always have a guest bedroom wherever we live.
When people stay with us, we gain perspective on their lives and even ours. Their reactions to the way we live, what we eat, where we go, and how we spend our free time are valuable bits of information. When moving so far away it’s hard to gain full perspective on your new life until confronted with the past, or confronted with people from the past. Visitors are easy ways to come full circle and see how much growth has been achieved, or how much we’ve regressed.
What I enjoyed about this recent blast from the past was how truly American my in-laws are. Shayla even refers to Pittsburgh folk as “salt of the earth people”. Personally, I love how open Americans are. They won’t shy away from making a rude sarcastic joke, or hesitate to tell you that your fly is down. But it’s not all crude behavior. Americans really look you in the eye and shake your hand with a forceful sincerity.
I’m guilty as charged. I was at a beach bonfire party this past weekend and ended up talking to a Chinese guy for ten minutes. I asked him if he knew any other Americans. He said, “I really like Americans. They are really… They are… Um…” Then he got out his i Phone and looked up the Chinese character that meant “frank” and “straight forward”. I couldn’t help but think that I was acting more frank because of the recent visit with Shayla and Sean. Those two sparked my true nature, which sometimes gets suppressed here. Most of the people I know in Hong Kong are Brits and Chinese. Brits certainly aren’t frank…they are all politeness. Chinese are only frank about facts, not so much about feelings. So it’s nice to pour a shot of straight frank-talk down the hatch. Thank goodness my brother is coming to visit in a few weeks.
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