Going Global

The other day I was out with some friends and MJ was with us. He happened to have an Italian flag that he was playing with, and one of my friends (who is Australian) asked him if he knew of which country the flag he had represented. He did not. So we told him, and about 3 hours we asked him again. With a tiny reminder (Iiii----) he responded, “Italy!!!” Hooray!

The exposure our children have to people from other cultures and countries is absolutely astonishing. MJ’s classroom has kids from the U.S. (obviously – we contributed one of them), Australia, Brazil, Singapore, Isreal, Germany, China, Japan, Korea and one of the Middle Eastern nations (not sure which one). Here in our compound, he routinely plays with kids from Australia, France, Chile, Japan, China, Spain and Germany. Many nights MJ asks us to “look at the world” with him – which means that he wants us to look at the atlas with him and tell him the names of countries, as well as who we know from those countries.

I think this is great. In fact, our mingling with people from different backgrounds reminds me of my time in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor had the same eclectic, diverse group of people as we get here. The other night, I hosted a wine tasting and the following countries were represented: U.S., Australia, Norway, Japan, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Chile. And there were only 9 women there. It’s amazing. I’ve learned so much already about other countries – geography, history, politics, etc.

But what’s really interesting to me are the conversations about slang words. These conversations are especially fascinating when the three main English-speaking countries are involved (the U.S., Australia and Great Britain). It turns out you have to be careful what you say – because otherwise you may end up being much funnier than you intended. For instance, on our way out to SheShan last weekend, Mr. Lu was having trouble getting the air conditioning in the van to work properly. This was because PW had been playing with all the knobs on the dashboard. So I said as much. That’s when I learned that “knob” in Australia means something different than “knob” in the U.S. – and to state that PW was playing with “the knobs” meant something that would prompt a call to social services back home…oooops.

Or take the word “fanny”. One day one of the kids fell down and landed (according to his “mum”) on his “bum”. We starting talking about all the different words used for “bum” in the States, and I mentioned “fanny”. Again…not the same in the U.K. or Australia!!! Same region, different country (when talking about body geography). That’s a good one to clarify – otherwise, one night when we’ve all had too much to drink and are talking about things we shouldn’t, someone might get the impression that someone else is a lot kinkier than expected!!!

So our education continues. I’m sure this is just what Johnson Controls had in mind when they sent M over here to gain exposure to another culture…swear words and slang! Now let’s just hope we can keep the lessons the kids learn a bit cleaner for at least a few more years!