The People I Meet

Disclaimer: This was written on 3 July 2010. References about it being ‘last night’ should be thought of in that manner. Enjoy!

Quite possibly my favorite part of travel, and one of my favorite life activities in general, is meeting new people. Last night I felt the itch to get out and meet people in the Washington, D.C. area (technically Silver Spring, MD) where I am currently located in my travels. I had already enjoyed a full and busy day with my cousin Dave in D.C., but had a yearning that could be satisfied only through spontaneous mingling with fellow global citizens. In my experience with this activity, I generally have great luck meeting interesting, open-minded people who make for great conversation. Silver Spring was no exception to this and ended up providing me with a very fun and enjoyable night on the town. Here is a brief recap of my night and the characters I met along the way.

Prior to leaving Dave’s condo, I googled downtown Silver Spring and found an Irish Pub Dave and I had walked by the previous night. I decided it was as good as any place and began walking towards downtown. Google maps estimated it would take between twenty five and thirty minutes to walk the roughly 1.4 miles to the pub. I can not remember exactly how long it took me, I think it was close to their estimated range. The walk gave me a better feel for Silver Spring and let me enjoy a beautiful evening too. In no time I had found my way and was already meeting people.

When I initially sat down and until the end of the night, I was flanked by Georgia and Richard. Georgia is a local, born and raised Silver Springs native while Richard was born and raised in Trinidad. He is now a US Citizen and he has been serving with the US Armed Forces (Navy) for nearly fifteen years! Richard was a very kind and open-minded individual. It was fascinating to hear his life story: growing up in Trinidad, moving to the United States in early adulthood, applying for US citizenship and all its hassles, and his current/recent military life. He said he still has not found his passion in life and described the military as “a very broad and safe career.” Richard also told me how old he was, and when he said he was thirty eight I could hardly believe him. I honestly thought he was in his mid to late twenties or early thirties at the most, but not that old. Richard not only looked young and fit, but had youthful energy and still seemed excited about life and what he plans to do with it. I very much enjoyed this about him, and am thankful I had the opportunity to meet him.

Sitting alongside Georgia was Charmaine, who grew up in Bangor, Maine and Boston Massachusetts. Georgia is full blooded Greek, but has always lived in the United States and Charmaine is African-American (and beautiful as well). After talking with Charmaine for awhile she told me about her job as a Special Education Counselor/Coach at an agency that works with troubled and at-risk youth who also have developmental disabilities. This commonality between Charmaine and I allowed us to talk easily and share stories from ‘the trenches’ of teaching troubled and disadvantaged youth. She liked my desire/plan to move overseas and teach, and I enjoyed hearing about the work she does in Silver Spring. As was the case with Richard above, I was surprised when Charmaine said she was thirty seven years old. Similarly to Richard, Charmaine had a youthful spirit and a lot of energy. It was certainly a pleasure meeting both she and Georgia.

After I had been sitting and visiting with the people described above, three African American guys walked near the area I was sitting. I immediately recognized one of them from the night before, when Dave and I saw him playing chess outside in the plaza of downtown Silver Spring. I was curious about the game’s conclusion and decided to strike up a conversation with him. I immediately found out his name was David, that he had won the game the night before and was 3-2 against that particular opponent, and he was from Uganda. This last piece of information surprised me somewhat, as I had thought he was from India or perhaps Bangladesh or Pakistan. I think he was just as surprised when I told him where I thought he was from. David and I easily began to strike up a conversation and soon I was learning more about Idi Amin and the history of Uganda than I had ever thought I would know. It was fascinating to listen to David talk about modern African politics and other associated things and even more interesting when his two friends, ChaCha and Von (?), joined in the conversation. Both of these men were from Kenya and had been living/working in the D.C. area for several years, as had David. Von did not do much talking, but as soon as ChaCha started visiting with us he really lit up and the conversation flowed beautifully. For the next twenty or thirty minutes the three of us discussed modern African conflicts and problems, difficulties with becoming a naturalized US Citizen, and differences between various parts of the world. All three of these men, especially David and ChaCha, were well educated, intelligent men who are aware of the world around them. It was refreshing to visit with them about their area of the world and learn things I may have never learned otherwise. During our conversation I explained my plans to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in December. My new friends were happy to hear about this, especially ChaCha, as his native Kenya, more specifically his hometown of Mombassa, is directly north of Tanzania (where Kili is). ChaCha suggested flying into Mombassa and said the drive from there to where Kilimanjaro is is well worth seeing. I will definitely keep his advice in mind and appreciated him offering it to me. In general I enjoyed my time with these men and learned much from our brief meeting. 


As the night wound down, I began to part ways with my new friends and shared in a mutual farewell as we all wished one another well in our various life pursuits. Even though I will likely never see any of these people again, I will forever have the memory of the evening and time we shared together. After leaving I walked the 1.4 miles back to Dave’s condo and turned in for the evening having satisfied my ‘itch’ for the time.