Well That Was Interesting

 A FEW THINGS--

For those of you that don't know--I am a State Coordinator for an International Exchange Program. I have done this for about 5 years but due to COVID-19 we haven't offered the program for two years and with the way things are going with the Delta Variant I am not sure there will be a program this year. However--I am hanging onto the hope that we will be back. I bring about a dozen 12-15 year old kids from Japan (sometimes Norway) in every summer for a month and they stay with host families to learn conversational English, our culture and they introduce their culture to us. Our program also offers the opportunity to not only travel to Japan but to travel to other countries throughout the world. We also have kids from all over the world come to stay for an entire school year. My passion though--is the short term inbound and outbound programs that we offer.

I was asked if I wanted to have a table at the State Fair this year to promote this program and I of course took them up on the offer. I spent a good month prepping my table, getting information printed up, having packets made up for host families. I had door prizes and I also had candy from Japan to give away to the kids. I was so excited to just talk to people after being at home for so long. 

This was my experience:

The first person at my table was a woman with some small children wearing a "Fuck Biden" shirt. Completely inappropriate in my opinion. Well--she was an expert on vaccinations, Afghanistan (I never asked her any questions--she just felt the need to talk to me) and then she asked me a question I will never forget. "Is this a deep state program to bring Illegals into this country?" Was I shocked she asked it? No--from her clothing attire I was not shocked. Just being honest. So I explained to her that it was definitely not that kind of program. I also asked her about her travels throughout the world--I mean--she was an expert on Afghanistan so I assumed she had to have been there at one time right? No--she has never been out of the state of South Dakota. When she walked away--I looked up into the heavens and told God--I might as well pack up if this is what it will be for the next 5 days. But--I kept working.

Like I have said before--I have been in the program about 5 years. I never had the Illegals question. And for the five days I was at the State Fair I was asked the Illegals question over 25 times. 25 times. Now--I was prepared for the COVID-19 vaccination questions--and I was asked a lot of questions about the vaccine and the office I work with gave me sort of a script to use to answer those questions. And I am so thankful they did--because although everyone HAD an opinion on the vaccine--I stuck with the script I was given. However--they really felt they could sit there for a good 20 minutes and give me their thoughts. I always asked them--when they were done talking if they had ever traveled outside of the country. And a good bulk of them had traveled internationally but had decided if the vaccine ends up being a requirement then they would no longer travel. The most interesting "thought" I had from a parent--is when they asked me if we are Americans traveling to another country if American rules and laws apply while they are IN that country. I said I never have been outside of South Dakota and I didn't know. Yep-- I lied like a rug. Because sometimes you know--that the conversation is not going anywhere and there is no need to continue having that conversation. 

I had a wonderful conversation with a very nice woman and as I was getting ready to inform her that we are always looking for people to host our chaperones from Japan she saw a little old man with glasses walk by and she said "is that Fauci? Because if it is--I am going to go kick his ass!" There were about 50,000 little old men with glasses walking around the fair that week--I hope they are all OK and weren't assaulted because they looked like Dr. Fauci.

Now--was it all bad? Absolutely not. About every 5th person that came to my table to talk to me had an interest in either traveling outbound or hosting. I had kids at my table every morning waiting for Japanese candy. I had lots of conversations with people who grew up being a host family "back in the day" and I loved hearing those stories. I found that when I went across aisle to the other tables --I had more people at MY table taking brochures, business cards, etc. I think the parents were extremely worried I was going to try to "hook" them into hosting by being at the table--so some avoided me like the plaque but came back to the table when I was away from it. I was just re-introducing the program. There was really no pressure. So I was away from my table as a onlooker a lot. It really didn't matter to me if I was sitting there or not--I just wanted people to know that the program I have worked for has been around since 1979 and it is a good program--it is an amazing program for kids. And I hope I did that. 

Here is why we need programs like this.

I had Sunday to myself and I went to eat some great Fair Food and I sat at a community table where there was a group of young teenagers sitting at the table next to me. And you know what their conversation was? Trump/Biden. There were young teenagers wandering around the State Fair wearing Trump flags. And all I could think of is--when I was their age my main concern in life was what was going on between Bow and Hope on "Days of Our Lives" I am not even sure that I knew who our President was. I had a horse, a pet rabbit. I had a neighbor with a Tarzan swing (and she always had pickles in her fridge--and they were the GOOD pickles). I didn't know--or care what was going on in the world. Do I think it was a bad thing that I didn't know anything going on in the world--I am not sure. While these kids ARE our future--why are they being consumed with politics? Is this ALL there is now? And whether we think we know everything or not--the political system and what goes on behind closed doors is really beyond what any of us will ever understand. But we have our churches, our social media, our 24 hour news sources and we--the people, consuming our thoughts with politics. That woman who wanted to kick Fauci's ass--the guy she saw was a trigger for her. I am not educated in the psychological field--but after a lot of therapy--I know what a trigger is. And she was super nice--until she was triggered. Where do you think our kids will be in a few years when we ourselves are being triggered? Why weren't these kids--riding the rides, talking about their crushes and enjoying the fact that we didn't have school Monday? Why--did they feel that the only conversation they could have was a conversation about Biden and Trump? We are losing our mental balance--and our kids aren't getting the opportunity to HAVE a balance--to see what is all out there in the world. They are getting lost in a sea of shit--that they will never comprehend. That is why we need these Exchange Programs. 

I have worked with the public since I was 16 years old. My dad taught me everything I know about talking to people and reading people. After this week--I no longer feel I can read a person and trust me when I say it is like kryptonite. I am not sure I want to get to know anyone anymore. I can't imagine NOT working with the public--but I don't know if I want to get to know anyone in depth anymore. I have to relearn how to talk to people. I have to write different scripts for the different people I talk to. And I have never been to talked AT so much in my life...like--there is a huge communication barrier out there. So much noise and no one is listening. It was so eye opening to me. And it was really heartbreaking. We have really lost our way. You can blame politics and you can blame the pandemic but this is really on us. And I don't know if it is fixable. I really don't. 

Until Next Time--

Kristi