On the other hand I cannot say the words “may day” without chuckling at another memory of a funny little video clip which illustrates so beautifully the complexity of cross-cultural communications. Maybe you have seen it as well… the one where the German coast guard recruit is sitting and listening to the radio? The message is received: “Mayday, mayday, we are sinking.” And the young officer replies; “Vat are you sinking about?” It’s funny in the video, but we cannot begin to guess how often we have experienced miscommunication over the years that we have been working internationally. At least now we have learned to keep asking questions until we feel fairly sure we have understanding… and even then not to be too surprised when we don’t!

Now, we often find ourselves in locations around Asia when this is a very common occurence. The water stops flowing out of the tap, and you wait for it to come back on... sometimes in minutes, sometimes in a day or two... depends where you are at that time. (In Kathmandu last visit, we had running water so rarely that we were more surprised when it was working than when it wasn't!)