Conversations with strangers.....

.....are always fascinating things. During the first few hours of my first evening in Seattle, I had a few of the "Hey, I'm _____. Whats up?" type conversations you always have in groups of new people. The kind of conversation that lasts for 3 1/2 minutes but never really gets anywhere. They are usually marginally interesting, especially in a hostel in a new city, because you can later say "Hey, I met this beautiful girl from...(fill in the blank here....most recently France for me!) and it was cool!" But the conversations never really go anywhere.

That is where this story of mine deviates from the usual give and take of "normal" conversations. I was chatting with the hostess of the hostel, another beautiful woman I might add, and she introduced me to the hostel's night watch guy. He asked what I did for a job and I mentioned I was applying for jobs as a teacher. This seemed to pique his interest and we started chatting about education. This guy, Brian, turned out to me one of the most well read and largely self educated people I have ever met. We sat at at table in the main room and chatted til after midnight about anything from education, to mysticism, to family differences, to philosophy, to local economy. What made it even more interesting is the added dimension of having random people stop and sit down for awhile and join in the conversation. It was fascinating to hear the perspectives of a remarkably wide cross section of people and backgrounds. We had people from England, Ireland, France, Australia, Korea, China and the US coming in and out of the conversation. It was rather remarkable. This is another of the things I enjoy about traveling! Being able to compare and contrast my own perspectives on a given subject with people from such varying backgrounds pretty much rocks!