I’m working on a new book featuring “The Best of” stories from my blogs. Most of my subscribers came aboard well after most of my blogs. I thought you might enjoy this 2019 effort. By the way, I’ve now had more than 9,000 rides and driven folks from at least sixty-seven countries.
A new milestone – more than 3,900 rides and folks from at least 60 countries! You can usually expect an average of at least two passengers per ride, so I have had almost 8,000 people in my car. I am still amazed at the folks worldwide who visit Mobile for so many different reasons.
I got dinged one evening by two Japanese gentlemen. Only one of them spoke English. He asked me, “Can you recommend some foreign restaurants in Mobile?”
I was taking them to a Nepal/Indian restaurant called Katmandu. I started naming as many “foreign” restaurants as I could remember. (Is Taco Bell a foreign restaurant?) “No, No!” he said. “Not your foreign restaurants…our foreign restaurants! Southern food!” Well, that’s quite a different thing!
When I dropped them off, they asked for my phone number because they wanted to call their “taxi” when they were ready to go somewhere else. It usually doesn’t work that way, but I “taxied” them a few more places that night.
A few weeks later, I picked up a young man who was originally from Lithuania. He was traveling with a young lady who hardly opened her mouth. They were eventually traveling to New Orleans, but I took them to Pensacola. No, I’m not disoriented. The guy was a salesperson for Vivint, selling home security systems throughout the Gulf Coast to work his way through college. He had been accepted to Stanford but would be attending BYU soon.
He was one of three adoptees in his family and one of eight kids in total. Somehow, he was part Native American from Arizona, but didn’t know much about the details. I think some connections there initially brought him to the United States.
He told me, “I spent the first eight years of my life in foster homes, the last three with my eventual adoptive parents.”
He says he’s very close to his adoptive parents but doesn’t have a close relationship with the five original children because they had grown up and left by the time of the three adoptions. His goal is to work his way through college without accumulating any debt. I don’t have any doubt that he will be successful!
Language can often become a challenge. On this particular ride, I picked up a French couple living just outside Paris. My Uber map was a little stubborn, so it wasn’t showing me their destination.
She told me they were going to a wedding at “fockundee.” If there was some way to type the extreme accent, you might understand my confusion after asking her 3-4 times to repeat herself. Eventually, I realized she was going to “Fort Conde!”
They told me they love the friendliness of people in Mobile. I hear that so many times from people outside of our area. I have to wonder. It doesn’t seem like we’re acting any different than we do all the time. I love that about my hometown!
All of these international experiences aren’t always pleasant.
One late night, I picked up a Saudi Arabian gentleman who had been in Mobile earning a college degree for the last six years. He asked me to take him to an ATM because he was leaving at 4:00 am the following day. He also told me that his girlfriend had just ended their relationship before she knew he was leaving to go home.
He was very upset with her, but would leave her the TV, couch, and other items. The conversation got a little crazy at that point.
“Americans are not generous! That is why I’m leaving the TV and couch with her! That will teach her a lesson!”
I tried countering the generosity point. I had no idea what his lesson was supposed to teach his ex-girlfriend. I explained my work with the Little Sisters of the Poor and the multitudes of charitable groups nationwide. I honestly believe the people of this country are the most generous in the world.
He said, “Well, some are good. You’re older and wiser! The rest of these (expletives deleted) are BS!” Furthermore, he shouts, “She never appreciated the fact that I paid my girlfriend’s rent several times, bought Jack Daniels for her Dad, and provided ‘weed’ for her Mom!” (Kind of a bizarre vision of charity, don’t you think?)
Thankfully, we finally reached the destination. I’ve never said these rides were boring!
God Bless,
Tommy
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