Since moving so far out of the USA and American culture I have realized that there are just a couple of major topics that are universal fodder for discussion: soccer and politics. Now I am a sports fan and I tried to appreciate soccer during the World Cup. But in the end I came to the conclusion that while a soccer game is fine to watch now and again, it’s a flawed sport that I can’t see putting much time and fanatic devotion to. That leaves me with the politics. When you are the only American in your city, there are many unique opportunities for political conversation. I normally try to present a reasoned point of view from my Christian worldview and my desire for peace. I try to represent my opinion faithfully and then find something else to talk about. I am a fan of the show Car Talk because they use cars as a unifying topic and they bring many aspects of life into the conversation, seasoned with wit and irony. Here, cars are rare. A lot of things are scarce. But just about everyone has opinions about this or that politician and once sparked, the conversation goes from there.
Truth be told, I am a conversationalist and I can talk about many things with many people. In college I majored in Psychology and minored in conversation. One of the things I do like about the political talk is that it seems that the US President’s name is butchered by most every non-American accent. He’s Mr. Boosh. Thinking about how funny it sounds lightens up many dour political conversations for me!
These seem to be tough political times and getting tougher. If the Middle East isn’t burning it’s smoldering, people are hatching plans to blow themselves up, democracy is on the march but mostly marching in place, and a leader of South America’s Leftist movement called Boosh “el diablo” while standing behind that marble bulwark of a lectern in the halls of the UN. I’m not sure what’s worse, being included in the “axis of evil” or being called “the devil”. Either way I’m guessing that Venezuela just got added to Mr. Boosh’s personal axis list. Lord have mercy.
Those last two paragraphs were highly amusing, and the last one made me laugh.
Soccer a flawed sport… Blasphemy! Its called the beautiful game for a reason. Its kinda like google… if you ask google something, and it doesn’t know the answer, its not because google doesn’t know, its because you did not ask correctly