Many people who have traveled though Arabian Peninsula airports have had the experience of a stranger giving them a plane ticket. The first time it happened to me, I was startled and asked the person what they wanted. They answered in a language I did not understand and tried again to give me their plane ticket. I realized they were trying to figure out where to get their flight.

I went with them to screen showing departures, figured out their gate and pointed them in the right direction. As I watched them walk away, I marveled at their trust. I could have been malevolent and sent them in the wrong direction but they smiled and nodded at me, then walked off believing that I had given them the right information.

This happened to me many times and each time I am impressed at people’s faith in other humans. Often these people did not speak Arabic or English; they would just walk up to me, hand over papers and trust that I will help.

People making deliveries at the university where I used to work would do the same thing: walk into my office and give me boxes of goods meant for someone else. They would leave and I would sort out where the items were supposed to be.

In those circumstances, I thought about how I would cope in a country where I did not speak the language or understand how to read written script. Although I studied Ancient Greek, navigating in Greece was difficult and I can’t imagine how people manage when they have no way of communicating. Even with location apps and computer translation, getting to a specific place is not easy.

Then a few days ago, the same thing happened at work in the States. A delivery person went to the wrong location, so I ventured out to find them. When I finally figured out where they were, I discovered a person who had no communitive ability in English. They simply stood next to the goods and when I approached, they offered me their phone.  

I asked a few simple questions; they only shook their head and gestured for me to take their phone. When I looked at their screen, it was open to a fairly complex delivery app which needed verification for the delivery. Since the person was in the wrong place, I needed to re-enter the delivery location, then page through several screens so I could enter my name and sign. I completed the transaction and handed the phone back. They nodded and walked away, off to make another delivery.

It reminds me of when I taught Red Cross citizenship classes years ago. All of my students had a full-time job, plus the night classes and were navigating through Boston with a very low-level of English. 

That is a kind of bravery I cannot hope to emulate.

Navigating Working in USA without Speaking English, part 2

Cultural Preferences for Gathering Information – Talk to a Person or Type into your Phone?

Culture Shock – Returning to USA

How NOT to Describe People Who Are Foreign to You: Exoticizing Omanis

Using Creative Writing Prompts in Foreign Language Learning