Talking to Strangers

  

My father and mother talked to anybody and everybody. Maybe it was because he was a salesman and she was a journalist. When we left whomever they were talking to, I would ask who it was. They would reply, "I don't know," and add something interesting about their conversation.

Maybe there's a talk-to-strangers chromosome in our DNA.

Rick, Sherlock and I went to Zermatt to escape the heatwave scalding Geneva. There were predictions of 40°C(104°F). Zermatt was predicted to be around 25-27°C (77-80.6°F).

I'd only been there in the winter. I remember many more luxury, brands then now and people carrying skis.We wanted three things:

• A Zermatt T-shirt for Rick
• A Matterhorn magnet for our fridge
• To a photo of the Matterhorn

The weatherman must have lied because it was hot 33°C ( 99°F ). 

When Rick wandered off to take a photo of the Matterhorn, I sat on a bench in a church shadow with Sherlock.

To stop the dog whining for Rick I tried and failed to open his dog biscuit bag. This led to:

Conversation 1

The man next to me offered to help open the bag. He was from Istanbul and it was his fourth trip to Switzerland. We talked about population, the history of our countries, the love to travel. Our spouses reappeared and we all looked at Rick's photo of the Matterhorn (see above), chatted a bit more before parting.

His languages: Turkish, Arabic, French and English

Conversation 2

Rick went to the upper floor of a store to find a T-shirt. Sherlock and I were alone with what turned out to be the manager, a man probably in his mid forties, gray curly hair, slim and smiley. He loves to travel and can usually find work in tourist season places. He thought the U.S. was a beautiful country suffering under a madman. 

His languages: Swiss German, German, French, English, Italian and smattering of other languages from countries where he'd spent a few months. 

Conversation 3

The young woman at the door of the hotel/restaurant handed us menus in English when she heard us talking. Slim with long dark hair so shiny she could have been in one of those shampoo adverts where the hair shimmers and almost is reflective. She found us an almost alone table for 2.5 (Sherlock is the .5  Zwei und halbe) 

She knew Stuttgart where I'd lived, but she grew up in Berlin. Germany is part of Schengen where citizens can live in any of the Schengen countries with citizen privileges, 

Her languages: German, French, English, some Italian 

Conversation 4

The receptionist at our hotel who wanted to know where Sherlock was and was relieved that Rick was walking him. We started talking. She is a Swiss German, married for 38 years to a Greek. 

When the financial crisis hit Greece in the early part of the century, to survive she and her husband decided she should try to find work in Switzerland. Now she works in Switzerland summer seasons while her husband works in Greece. In winter they switch countries. Their marriage is good.

I'd heard of separate bedrooms but separate countries? Well, anything that works.

Her languages:  Swiss German, German, Greek, English, French and a smattering of others.

In Paris, I've collected stories of different taxi drivers. Mohamed became my regular taxi driver when I was spending much time there. On one trip he called his sister, whom he knew I would like and she would like me. She and I chatted about books. She promised to make me couscous the next time I was in Paris, but I didn't go back for a couple of years and by then Mohamed had changed jobs.

His languages: Arabic and French. His sister taught English. 

I'm grateful for whatever chatty chromosome my parents triggered. Maybe my parents felt talking to strangers enriched their lives. I know it enriches mine.