Bridging the Gap

A Korean guy approached me in a coffeeshop yesterday afternoon, asking if he could sit down and chat for a few minutes. With the use of a cellphone translator, we were able to have twenty minutes of conversation in broken English and bits 'n' pieces of Korean. To some, this situation would potentially seem very awkward, but I've become quite accustomed to random interactions like these in Korea... where a child or adult decides that meeting me at a bus stop, in an elevator, or on a street corner, is a great opportunity to practice their English!
The craziest part about yesterday's conversation, though, was that at the end of it, this guy confides in me that this is the first time he's ever spoken to a foreigner. He's never traveled, lives in the same town he grew up in, and works as a waiter in a local Korean restaurant. This was the very first time he's ever spoken with an individual outside of his own cultural background and ethnic descent! How cool is that? I felt so privileged that I got to be someone's first.
Do you remember the first time you spoke with someone of another ethnic background? I'm guessing that most of my readers come from such ethnically diverse societies, potentially even within their own multi-generational family histories, that such a "first" is difficult to imagine! How about the first time you attempted conversation with someone whose language was different from your own?