Every month we’ll be posting an entry from a guest contributor who has some advice, resources, information and/or inspiration they want to share. This month’s guest contributor is Mark Hand. Mark just spent two years in Quito as the Founding Ecuador Director for Manna Project International, which puts college students and graduates to work on community development projects in Ecuador and Nicaragua. He’s now back in the U.S., living out of the trunk of his car and traveling to people that matter (like his eighteen-month-old niece Genevieve). Check out his blog at markhand.blogspot.com.
My friend Preston and I went to a restaurant in Nashville last week, where a decidedly bored waitress decided to liven up her evening by flirting aggressively with the both of us. At some point Preston (always the wingman) tossed me a lob. “You know,” he said to the waitress, “My friend Mark just came back from two years in Ecuador.”
“Ecuador, wow…” she said. “How was that?”
I blanked. In this particular setup, my answer was supposed to be something smarmy and sensitive: “It was heartbreaking to see children in such poverty, but rewarding, too. I know that I made a difference even if I couldn’t adopt them all.” But – sorry Preston – I just couldn’t do it. How in hell do you package two years of life into an elevator pitch or cocktail conversation piece? You don’t, obviously. But here are some tips to talking about your abroad with whoever asks about it.
Write about it first. If you can find some outlet through which to digest your experiences on a personal level, it takes some of the pressure off of those conversations. You won’t feel as much need to say something profound, witty or engaging.
Be true. People can sniff out false modesty pretty quickly and know when you’re bragging about how well traveled you are. Don’t overplay or understate your experience, just say it like it is.
Pay attention! In the first few seconds of talking about your experience, you can pick out whether somebody takes interest in what you have to say. The odds are, frankly, that they don’t. But you can pick out which parts they might be interested in. Do they teach in an elementary school? Maybe they’d be curious about how classrooms work in Uganda. Are they sports fans? Maybe they’d appreciate a (short) story about your nearly getting arrested at a soccer game in Madrid.
Practice makes perfect. I learned quickly which statements or questions really drive me up the wall. So when somebody comes at me with, “You know, those people are poor but they’re so happy, aren’t they?” I’ve got a measured response at the ready. I’m also beginning put together a mental list of lighter stories so that I have some available when people are looking for ‘fun’ rather than ‘serious.’
Good luck!
Latest posts by Guest
- More on Chile - March 8th, 2010
- From One Farm to Another: WWOOFing in Mexico - March 5th, 2010
- Can English Really Open Doors? - March 4th, 2010
- Intern Spotlight: Opening Doors in Chile - February 18th, 2010
- What the Locals Say: Taking the Plunge - February 17th, 2010
- Postcard From the Road: WWOOFing It - February 5th, 2010
- Seeing the World in New Ways - February 3rd, 2010
- Postcard From the Road: Rain, Landslides and Flooding Around Cusco - February 1st, 2010
- New Appreciation for an Old Concept: The Case for Philanthropy - January 8th, 2010
- Volunteer Spotlight: Facing Paco in Buenos Aires - December 16th, 2009
I’ve realized that people are interested for about 15 seconds and then begin to fade out, no matter how well (or short) you’ve articulated your experience.
But with a well curated photoset (i.e. don’t show them EVERY photo from your time abroad) and a brief “presentation” my iPod has actually helped to engage people longer than the norm.
If we’re able to leverage smartphones and attractive media, we’ll have the ability to enthrall more listeners for longer than the norm.