Growing up in North Borneo, we had the good fortune of having all kinds of people from all over the world come and teach us and rule over us. The British were the government, our teachers came from Southern India, we had our local natives, we were of Chinese descent, our ancestors were from South China.... the lists goes on. This meant that we need to know where in the Atlas these countries were and what kind of cultures were there. This was good fortune because it caused us to look outside of our little corner of the world. Unlike people in the USA who are so self sufficient and insular, they have no clue where most places are in the world. Even though there might be conflicts in some of these places, still they have no clue and are not interested. I think it is for this reason many do not travel abroad. I work with people who wouldn't touch food they are not familar with. This is a sad situation. I have always embraced the world and probably for this reason I have wanderlust. I have pretended that I was born on Wednesday because Wednesday's child has far to go! Seeing a cartography museum was exciting. The Madaba map is so amazing. I guess only a lover of maps would find this to be so.
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