Yesterday was kind of an interesting day. First, I had a chance to deal with my first really unpleasant person within the VA Medical system: a care manager who deals a lot with spinal cord patients. Not much I can do, but grin and bear it, because she is not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. It just made for a frustrating part of my day at work.
When I left work, I took the Light Rail system towards the Lake Street stop, so I could transfer to a 27 or 21 bus to go to where my wife works in south Minneapolis. Watching the people on the light rail, I could not help but to notice a burley looking guy with closed-crop hair, who liked like he could have been a bouncer at a pub. I also noticed that he was wearing a sweat top with the Canturbury logo on it. Most people who where that type of sportswear are involved with rugby, or are rugby fans, so I approached him and asked him if he played or coached rugby. He looked a bit surprised, and he answered with the lilting accent of his native Ireland. He affirmed that he does play rugby at home, and was on a holiday in the USA. He was able to find a pub in the Twin Cities that showed Wales-Ireland over the weekend, and was understandably thrilled with Ireland’s first Grand Slam in 61 years. I wished him well on his trip, and went on my way.
Later that evening, while I was working out, I got to talking with a guy from Togo in west Africa and a guy from Puebla, Mexico at my health health club. I hit it off real well with Gaston, the guy from Togo, who gave me a name and e-mail for somebody if I ever wanted to try working civil service in Africa. As a nurse who also speaks French, there are not many Americans with that background, and it would be a good fit if I ever wanted to do something completely different. ( I don’t know how keen my lovely red-head would feel about working and living in West Africa-but I would love to try it someday) It was kind of strange switching back from French to Spanish, and I was getting some strange looks from some of the other people working out, but I have found over the years that when I have a chance to dust off my French or Spanish, I usually try to take advantage of it so I don’t get too rusty and forget-which is very easy to do.
It kind of shows that the Twin Cities, a pretty “white bread” kind of a place when I was a little kid, is really becoming a more international city. We are nothing like Chicago, New York or L.A, but the growing body of people from overseas living and coming to my native state has really shown just how much the world has shrunk, even in the Midwest.
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