What I Learned from Living Abroad

 

 

Wherever you go, locals love their place best

and assume you are visiting because your homeland is inferior

 

or you couldn’t find a husband there

or occasionally both. This leads to some awkward conversations

 

but switching from politics and sex to the topic of food

guarantees a happier exchange.

 

Admiring babies is non-controversial

but do not pat their round heads or squeeze their chubby toes

 

without permission. The same goes for dogs

though folks are less indignant

 

if you cannot refrain from embracing their pets.

Whenever you enter a place of worship

 

cover your head and shut your mouth.

Remember how few of us have encountered a deity

 

and respect the attempts of so many to commune with one

even in places that represent the acquisition of wealth

 

through the oppression of citizens or by means of imperial conquest.

Having lit a candle to honour your own persecuted ancestors

 

return to the topic of food or, failing that,

sit at a café table and sketch your surroundings.

 

People are offended when you take a photo without asking

but delighted when you draw them –

 

everyone wants to ascend, so when prayer fails,

art will serve.