I think it was Heraclitus the one who said that the majority of people do not listen or speak properly. I am sure he was right. Actually, I have the feeling that most people speak more than listen to others. Me too, I am afraid. However, last Friday I spoke very little and listened most of the time.
Like most Fridays, I went for a drink with some of my friends. Sometimes we just meet, have a short talk and go back home. Some other times, we get involved in deep conversations from which I learn a lot. Last Friday, it was one of those days that I enjoyed listening to a person who had many interesting things to say. A friend of mine came along with a university student from Vietnam who had come to Warsaw with an international grant and was planning to stay until summer. All she said about her country, her culture, her way of understanding life was amazing. It was so different to the way I see my own reality that I felt she was talking to me about things that happen in another world. Some of my colleagues seemed to dislike the way the conversation was leading to and went to another bar. However, I stayed there because listening to her was pure pleasure. Time flew very fast.
Like most Fridays, I went for a drink with some of my friends. Sometimes we just meet, have a short talk and go back home. Some other times, we get involved in deep conversations from which I learn a lot. Last Friday, it was one of those days that I enjoyed listening to a person who had many interesting things to say. A friend of mine came along with a university student from Vietnam who had come to Warsaw with an international grant and was planning to stay until summer. All she said about her country, her culture, her way of understanding life was amazing. It was so different to the way I see my own reality that I felt she was talking to me about things that happen in another world. Some of my colleagues seemed to dislike the way the conversation was leading to and went to another bar. However, I stayed there because listening to her was pure pleasure. Time flew very fast.
I forgot about time and I missed the last bus home. So, I had to look for the night bus and then walk home. On my way home, a couple of verses of PL IV crossed my mind, the ones that I am posting below.
Do not ask me what time I got back !
Paradise Lost book IV, 639-640
With you conversing I forget all time,
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
My sister in law is going to work in Vietnam for a couple of years and I do hope I get the chance to visit her there :)
ReplyDeleteI will be giving a poetry course this semester :)
Dominika
Hi Dominika,
ReplyDeleteVietnam must be a wonderful country. If you get the chance, go and visit the country. The only problem may be the language. This friend of mine explained to me a few grammar chunks, and I got the feeling that learning Vietnamese is not an easy task. For example, she told me that there are plenty of personal pronouns, depending to whom you are talking to. Also, there are quite a few vowel sounds that were new to me.
Anyway, I am sure your sister will manage to take a course or two and learn to get by.
Regards