Top 10 things that I've learned after I started traveling abroad

10. Coca Cola is an acquired taste.

I've been drinking Coke for as long as I can remember. I love the way its sweetness and fizzle dance on my tongue and slide down to the back of my mouth. Why would anyone not like drinking Coca Cola?

The first time I offered the drink to someone who has never drank it, he practically coughed it back out. That expression on his face was unmistakably saying, "What is this $@#& that you gave me to drink."


9. Hot dog is not an American food

Several countries have indigenous sausages that looks and tastes exactly like hot dogs and claimed to have invented it. Considering that they had been eating them for more than five hundred years, it is safe to say that hot dogs were not invented in America.


8. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express Credit Card are not "Accepted Everywhere You Want to Be".

A blank look from a cashier at a Bishkek department store says it all.


7. Carry a football (soccer ball), and you'd make friends.

No explanation needed.


6. Extending the index finger and the middle finger is not universally interpreted as "PEACE".

There's nothing, like facing an angry mob after doing so at the end of a football (soccer) match, to teach you not to do it.


5. Maintaining a beard is not easier than a clean shave

I've always shaved because, at fourteen, the patchy fuzz on my face looked stupid. However, after becoming an adult, the facial hair that I had to shave is much more evenly distributed. So when I started traveling, I thought I'd save some time by growing a beard and forgoing shaving in the morning. The beard came out raggedy and I ended up looking like a homeless person even if I'm wearing a nice suit. (I'd just looked like a homeless person who received a donated expensive suit from Goodwill.)

Then, I found out that a well maintained beard requires grooming. We're talking cutting it even with a scissor, trimming with a beard trimmer, shampooing with a special shampoo, and then combing it.

Geeeeeeez!


4. An agreement is not an agreement until the actual exchange happens.

I was working on a project in a developing country when the following happened.

I had negotiated a price for a certain amount of concrete with a construction supply company. When I came back with the trucks to pick up the concrete, the owner of the company said, "Sorry, no concrete".

I almost slugged him; I just paid for two trucks and he's not going to sell me the concrete. "What do you mean? We agreed on a price for the amount of concrete!"

He said, "And I still agree with the price and amount. But I have no concrete to sell you."

"What about all that concrete sitting there?"

"My brother came by and bought the concrete before you came back."

With two drivers and a loading crew already paid, I had to renegotiate a new price with the brother who "bought the concrete."

That was the first time. A couple of times later, I finally learned my lesson.


3. Money is not always appreciated

The best haircut that I've ever had was when I was abroad on one of my summer projects. The hair stylist was a Russian woman who spent almost thirty minutes trimming every hair on my head. She charged me an amount equal to about three U.S. dollars and fifty cents. I was so appreciative of the job that she did that I tipped her generously. Evidently, one does not tip a hair stylist over there so she gave me back the tip. I tried to explain that it was a generous tip because she did such an excellent job and pushed the money back to her. She pushed it back and gave me a disgusted look.

No, I never found out why.


2. True hospitality

People would actually invite you, a perfect stranger, a foreigner in their land, to sleep in their home after meeting you in the street.

Then, they'd cook you a feast that they only reserved for special occasions. (The kids would tell you that they are glad that you came because they get to eat some dessert that they normally wouldn't have.)


1. Beauty is a smile in the eyes and the lips served with an act of kindness when you are completely utterly helpless.

American society is designed for individual independence. If your car break down, call AAA. If you don't have a car, you can catch a taxi or a bus. If you are short on cash, you can use your credit card. You are never really completely helpless.

But when you find yourself in a foreign land, without a social safety net, unable to speak the language, and you need help... One can not describe the beauty of a smile served with kindness; one has to experience it.