Yesterday I did a post on my life changing event of living in Munich, Germany for several years. Life changing events are ones that force you to reevaluate how you look at the world. Living abroad for an extended period of time, especially for someone like me who grew up in the backwoods of Oregon is certainly a life changing experience. In the late 80s I worked for the Japanese Company NEC and as a result I spent weeks and sometimes months in Japan. While Germany was at first an alien place Japan at first seemed like another planet or an alternate universe. Although I did speak German when I got to Munich I never learned much Japanese, I did manage to memorize the Kanji characters for the places I where was supposed to get off the train. The massive Shinto and Buddhist temples were far away from what I was used to.
The Japanese were for the most part very friendly and most of the people I worked with and socialized with spoke English as bad as it might have been. It was crowded in the cities. I remember one time I was there I had to take a train for one stop to get to the station where the next train would take me to work. I would board the first train and grab the pole nearest the door and hang on for dear life.
These life changing experiences alter the way we look at the world and I think the world would be a better place if more had the opportunity.