Back to school
Over the years I have travelled a lot. Maybe too much really, but that is just the nature of the work. To someone with no experience of business travel, it might sound quite glamorous – all those foreign countries. I will admit that it has its upsides, like having colleagues, who become friends, in many places. But often it is just tedious air travel, into a hot, badly driven taxi to yet another boring hotel. The next day it is another taxi to the office/conference and later back to the airport for more tedium. Frequently the fact that it is a foreign country is just an irritation, as language can be a problem and dealing with foreign currency annoying.
However, once in a while an opportunity arises to make the travel just a bit more interesting …
This week I was attending a conference in Stockholm. I have been to Sweden countless times and I would list it as one of my favorite countries to visit. The language is tough, but I guess I learn a tiny bit more each time I visit. A big bonus of this trip is that I could escape the boring hotel. I have some old friends (by old, I mean that I have known them a very long time!) who live on the outskirts of the city and they kindly offered to let me stay at their house. They are a Swedish/English couple. The guy was a colleague many years ago and his wife is a teacher.
It was the teacher who offered me an interesting opportunity. She teaches Rhetoric at a school and is always keen to have visiting speakers from out in the real world and she asked me to come along, as I had a little window of free time. I had done this before, a couple of years back, so I knew it would be fun and readily agreed.
The kids were around age 16 and all seemed to speak superb English. The plan was that I would give them some guidance on presentation techniques. I did a short presentation to them, during which I made as many mistakes as possible. They made notes of all the mistakes that they spotted and then we discussed my faults. They did a tremendous job of identifying all the fluffs that I had made and I was very impressed. My friend seemed to be very happy with their performance (and mine!).
This was great fun and gave me a feeling that I had gotten just a tiny bit closer to Swedish people and culture than most business visitors are able. An aspect of that culture popped up in an unexpected way. I had commented to the kids that I spoke almost no Swedish – about 6 words and knew how to order a beer. During the discussion, one of the boys asked me how I would order a beer in Sweden. I said that I would normally say “May I have a beer please”. He insisted that I say it in Swedish, so I obliged. I guess that will teach me to show off!
Colin – Terrific post. I am certain those kids took away invaluable nuggets of information from the experience. I don’t know if we could ever pull it off, but if you are willing I would love to explore the possibility of you speaking to the upper classmen at my boys’ school. Logistics may prove impossible, but just in case!
Thanks Michelle. When I’m next visiting Mobile, I’ll let you know [actually I’d get in touch anyway], and we can see what’s possible.
Sounds terrific. Thanks Colin.