One of the things I liked about India was the odd conversational style. Complete strangers were comfortable asking the most probing personal or esoteric questions.

Waiting to cross a street in New Delhi, an Indian man approached me.

“Excuse me, sir. Are you an American?”

Yes, I am.

“Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Not at all.

“Tell me, please, do you think that widespread availability of contraceptives has contributed to an increase in promiscuity in your country?”

Um…

…yes, I suppose it has.

Then I crossed the street and never saw him again. This kind of thing happens a lot in India.

One of my favorites happened in Egypt.

There’s a spot near here where you can see graffiti carved into the stones by Julius Caesar’s troops in 40BC. The pyramid was already 2000 years old when they arrived.

An older Egyptian man approached us and said “I don’t want to bother you or sell you anything, I would just like to practice my English for a moment. Would that be alright?”

Okay.

“Well, how is life so far? Fabulous?”

We laughed for hours.

Then there was the out-going young hustler on the beach at Danang, Vietnam. Over a beer, I complimented him on his English. He said,

“Oh, I love American movies. I learn English from them. Especially action like Rambo, Terminator, cop movies… I have question about American English. When I see American tourist on street, is it proper if I yell to them: ‘Hey, how the fuck are you?'”

My beer sprayed out my nose. Good times.