Internationalism

Last night we had dinner with some MBA-days friends. These friends happened to be a Dutch/Pakistani couple, and they invited their Dutch/Pakistani friends as well. It occurred to me, like it has quite often since moving here, how rich with people and experiences our life is. It is possible to have international friends in America, of course, but it was much harder for me to get out of my comfortable circles of friends and find people from different places.

I began thinking about our diverse array of friends we’ve had since moving here and where they are from: The Netherlands (duh); Dutch who have been overseas in America, New Zealand and Australia, Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe; USA; England; France; Finland; Israel; South Africa; Nigeria; Sierra Leone; Cameroon; Uganda; China; Taiwan; Ukraine; Moldova; Pakistan; Mexico; Guatemala; Brazil…

We have friends scattered throughout the world, too. We could visit every continent and be welcomed into many homes on each.

As international as our friends are, there are very rarely times where we feel as if we don’t have anything in common. We have common interests and experiences in Holland to share with each other. Of course, we talk a lot about our own countries, too. For those who are Christians, we have that to bind us together as well. In the end, though, it comes to one thing. We’re all human, we all have a desire for relationships with one another, we all have our stories to tell, and we all have things to learn from each other.