I travel to learn, but the farther I go from home, the more likely I am to find myself in the role of a teacher. In Bali, that cultural exchange is fairly smooth because most Balinese people speak some English in order to work in tourism, which is the island’s biggest industry.
We’ve met plenty of Balinese people on our trip. None of them have been to the U.S., but all of them have questions about America. Typically, the first question we get is, how long did it take you to get here? When we explain that it took us two flights that should’ve taken about twenty-five hours, but ended up taking two days, the reaction is amazement that any trip could take so long and gratitude that we’d make such a long journey to visit Bali.
But after the initial travel question, the real questions begin. For this dispatch I thought it might be instructive to share the frequently asked questions of our hosts. Here it goes.
What do Americans do on the weekend?
Is it true that there are homeless people in Ame…
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