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| Billie Silvey |
| Interview with a Traveler |
| Frank Silvey grew up as an Army brat, living in cities all over the world--Washington D. C., New York City, Tokyo and Rome. Returning to the States after attending high school in Rome, he joined the Navy just ahead of the Vietnam draft. He served on the aircraft carrier Ticonderoga in the Pacific, visiting several Asian nations. We went together to England and Italy, and later, he toured with the Mansfield Chamber Singers, visiting Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. He’s one of the most sophisticated and best traveled people I know, and I asked him a series of questions about travel. |
| March 2006 |
| Q. What was it like growing up in a military family--attending school in various parts of the globe? A. It was different in different countries. In Tokyo, we lived on a huge Army base that had its own school. I went to school with all American kids and was taught by American teachers. Only after school could I go out the gates of the base and have contact with Japanese people. We went out and saw the sights and toured various parts of the country, but we never could really enter into the life of the country. In Rome, I went to an international school with a half British and half American faculty. We lived in an apartment, and I had Italian friends from church and school. In daily life outside of school, I was among regular Italian people as I shopped and toured, and learned the language and the culture by living in it much more than I could in Japan. |
| Q. What kind of travel experience do people have in the armed services? Tell me about the ports of the Pacific. A. In the Navy, I was mostly on ships and bases. Port towns usually were a lot more representative of their sailor clientele than of the native culture. They were pretty much alike. Only by stepping outside the immediate port area was I able to walk around in a more typical Japanese or Filipino neighborhood. In addition to Japan and the Philippines, I visited Hong King and Singapore. Singapore offered the best experience when I was invited to visit in the home of a British family that lived there. There were always official and unofficial barriers to getting to know regular people in port cities, including language, limited time, and fear of crime. Still, there were some chances to see the real sights and life of the countries, so I got more of a sense of their distinct cultures than if I hadn't gone there. |
| Q. What are some advantages of travel? A. The major advantage of travel is exposure to other ways of life, to cultures with values, starting points and manners that differ from the ones you grew up with. Seeing the differences in the way people live and relate, even at the superficial level a brief visit allows, can help break you loose from your habits of thinking and the cultural assumptions that the way we grew up is the only right way. Exposure to the art, architecture, landscapes and history of other countries expands our knowledge of the world. The cliche that travel is broadening is true, because it puts us in a situation where an open mind can see and appreciate something different from what we’re accustomed to. |
| Q. How did you prepare to get the most from your travel? A. The first thing to do is to learn basic phrases in the language needed to get around--to ask for a glass of water or directions to the bathroom. Reading about history and sites you’ll be visiting in advance allows you to appreciate what you’re seeing more. As for relations with people, the important thing is to learn the basic social rules of the country, what is most polite and impolite. Be prepared for things to be different, and be adaptable. Don’t expect things to be just like they were at home. Do as the Romans do. It strikes me as a terrible waste of time, energy and money to travel across the world if all you want to eat when you get there is the same Big Mac that you could have gotten at home. |
| Q. What do you feel is the biggest mistake tourists make? A. The biggest mistake is expecting another culture to conform to what they’re familiar with at home -- expecting everyone to speak English, for instance, rather than realizing that in this country you're the foreigner who needs to make the effort to say as much as you can in their language. We need to have respect for other cultures and not set our own habits as the standard. That's the basic open-minded approach that allows us to gain some new understanding from the experience. |
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