language gap...

I drove a friend of mine to Montréal on Saturday and when I got there it happened to be the weekend of their International Jazz Festival. After I dropped off Amber at the bus station, I thought I would walk around the city a little bit and “explore.” It is such a neat city...I felt like I was in Europe and it was so great to hear people all around me speaking French.

Dale mentioned on a blog that whenever he is in a big city he tries to sit in a coffee shop and talk to people...so I thought I would give it a try. (I’m still not the best at striking up conversations with random people...but I’m trying to get better) So I was sitting outside of a little coffee shop drinking my enduire de caramel (I think it was espresso and caramel?) It was so much fun to just sit and listen to people all around me speaking in french...and all sorts of different languages. There were a lot of tourists there because of the Jazz Festival, so I met people from the Mid East (who had a relative playing in that weekend...did you know there was Arabic Jazz? I didn’t...but this couple played it for me and I loved it...I'm trying to find it on-line right now so I can purchase it), Asia, and several parts of Europe. It really is a neat city and I had such a great time just having conversations with store owners and people who were hanging out watching the different Jazz bands.

The only frustrating thing was the language barrier. I mean...I love hearing other languages, I just wish it did not take so long to learn another language. Wouldn’t it be awesome to just sit down and be able to have an in-depth conversation with someone in French, Swahili, Arabic, German, and Spanish? If someone knows of a brain chip that you could implant in your head that would make you fluent in 20 different languages, please...let me know. =)

In the mean time...I will stick to learning Spanish and as much Swahili as I can. I really want to immerse my children in other cultures and languages from the time they are born. It is so vital that Americans learn a love for other cultures, languages...well, more a love for people and use knowing their culture and languages as the means to connect. I think the attitude that we are Americans and don't "need" anything else from this world is very boxed thinking and it needs to change.

I love America. (By the way, happy Fourth of July...this is one of my favorite holidays.) I love that I live here. I feel amazingly blessed that I was born in a country with such freedom, an abundance of wealth, and the possibility to pursue any dream one can think up. I wouldn't choose to be born into any other country in this world, but the American church needs to become more globally minded. The fact that we have been blessed with so much should drive us to not only accept, but pursue people from all over the world and show them the love they need...our impact on eternity greatly depends on how our worldview shifts over the upcoming years.