Monday, February 21, 2011

do talk to strangers?


I was at the BART station the other day when this cute, stylishly dressed older lady comes up to me to ask me for directions. She was very sociable and it turns out that she was a international doctoral student at Cal (from Chile) back in the 60s and 70s. Crazy, huh? She was headed to the North Berkeley station so we had a nice little chat about Berkeley as it is now, and we even bonded over anthropology--her field of study. It also turns out that she was a research assistant/translator for one of my anthropology professors, Professor Laura Nader. We had a nice little chat about Professor Nader, controlling processes, and the work she did with Professor Nader in Zapotec Country in Oaxaca, Mexico. We talked a bit about her own work too. Her doctoral research focused on refugee women in the Bay Area.

I usually don't talk to strangers (partly because I'm shy, and secondly because mama told me not to talk to strangers), but I'm glad I was able to have a nice conversation with this lady. She was full of life, experience, and all sorts of interesting.

2 comments:

  1. i almost never strike a conversation with strangers... though recently, i did talk to one on the plane while flying to LA, only JUST because i had to use the restroom. lol!

    i enjoyed reading your blog! :) thanks for stopping by mine & following! as soon as i hit 100 followers, i'll be having a giveaway... so stick around. hehe

    xx,
    cins

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