International Diplomacy with Extra Curry

Late in June we had another international dinner for the expatriate employees at Bekaert. This was the week the U.S. and Russia were sniping at each other over the proposed missile shield in Eastern Europe. It was also the week congress called out China on trade and civil rights practices. And of course, more harsh words were tossed around with Iran over their nuclear plans, and Iraq weapons issues.

So as a joke, the organizers sat me across from two Chinese people, and between an Iranian and a Russian. Our table was jokingly referred to as the “evil empire” table. There is something really amazing about connecting with people whose nations are ideological foes. Our respective nations quibble and spit harsh words, but in the company we’re all on the same team and joke about it. It strikes me that perhaps international businesses accomplish diplomatic goals that Departments of State have a difficult time achieving. Either way, it was a grand night and an evening of cultural exchange.

Apparently the Chinese learn quite a lot about America history (I was impressed, it seemed they knew more than the average American). I was warned in advance to beware of the tendency of the Chinese to get colleagues and customers and business partners inebriated, because they feel that is when you learn most about a person. Being rather temperate, and having been warned ahead of time, I sipped my wine exceedingly slow and drank water liberally. Ha! You are foiled, paper tiger.

I’ve known the Russian fellow for quite some time (he came to San Diego before we moved to Europe), and he is a very soft spoken, polite intellectual type who has no use for politics. He actually graduated with his Ph.D. from the University of Akron (a hotbed of polymer activity), and lived in the U.S. for many years. We also joked together about world leaders and international politics.

The Iranians were very Westernized, and we talked about that. The wife of the employee doesn’t wear a burqua (actually, there seems to be large swaths of Muslim Europeans who view Islam liberally, and act that way. You just don’t read much about them because they aren’t very newsworthy). As business minded people, they feel barriers should be torn down and not constructed.

The organizer was an Indian, and so we had dinner in an Indian restaurant that was very good. It was in the neighborhood of “Little Turkey” in Gent, and was apparently quite authentic.