Stories of change in foreign places

This podcast documents my encounters overseas. In each episode, a stranger tells me the story of how travel has changed them. I want to capture the warmth of conversations between travelers and the insights we take from new places. I am curious how listening changes us too, how to get better at it, and how listening affects the listened to—in other words, the observer effect.

Mr. Book

Just before I left Hsipaw, Burma, Mr. Book invited me to visit his 94-year-old teacher. Sao Myo Cit welcomed us into her bamboo house and explained that in 1953 she won a fellowship—the only that year—to study in London and afterwards decided to devote her entire career to the students back in her village, like Mr. Book, who sat next to me with his chin in his palms, beaming. She spoke with eyes closed, and I studied her wrinkles, imagining her youth abroad. She still teaches now, but for free.

As we listened, a toddler came up the steps and knelt behind her with a small chocolate. Then another arrived silently with a pear. Another brought a tamarind, until there were a dozen. Finally, she interrupted her story to say, “Excuse me. I have to bless these children.” I witnessed the gift that passes between the experienced and the inexperienced, and since then, not only do I want to be a 94-year-old teacher but I try harder to listen and understand how encounters like these shape us.

Of all the books on the shelf in his shop, Mr. Book plucked one to urge me to read—W. Somerset Maugham’s The Summing Up.

Episode 51: The Summing up

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