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Introduction to - How I Learned to Communicate Across Cultures

       In the early ‘70s, I served as Communications Officer aboard the USS Knox, FF 1052. When our ship docked in foreign ports; Kure, Japan, Onlongapo, PI, Chinhae, Korea and other countries in the Far East, the officers, sans me, invariably teamed up, took a taxi and headed for the red light district. I went out on my own. My fellow officers often hunted down hookers. The Captain instructed us, “What goes on in Korea stays in Korea.” It was his way of cheating on his wife and not being afraid of getting caught. I always went off by myself, to a temple, to visit a school, to swim in a lake, to climb a mountain, to shop at a market place, to dine at a restaurant and wonder what I ate, to view a monument, to talk with the locals at the city square or perhaps be invited home by a native. I took the road much less traveled from my shipmates and I relied on my feet to carry me there. I had trained them well and they proved quite dependable.