The other night I had to take a bus from downtown Miami to where I live in Surfside. Since I never know where I am or which way my home is I asked this friendly looking young guy for information. He gently explained me exactly which bus to take and we started talking. I was happy to speak English for a change. Nothing against Spanish. I love español! But I also don’t want to forget my hard learned English. It turns out the boy was from Slovenia. He said it kinda shyly, expecting me to say something like “what?”, “where?”. But I do know where Slovenia is and he was so happy! I mean, all I knew it’s a tiny country in Eastern Europe. And I was so happy he was happy that back home I did some research on Slovenia: it’s locked between Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Italy and the Adriatic Sea. Not a bad location! It was part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Austrian Empire and Yugoslavia, among others, until finally it became independent in 1991. Okay, enough! The boy was so happy to be in America! He asked me if I had been to LA and when I said “yes” he looked at me like I was the luckiest person on Earth! Then he asked me how long I lived here. I said about ten but that I missed my home country. He was even more excited to hear that (the ten years part). I asked him if he missed Slovenia too. He said he planned to set foot in the US. I warned him home is the best place in the world to be, no matter where it is or how it is. I told him the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. I advised him to experience life here, get a degree and go back home. He didn’t respond and his bus arrived. He seemed sad to go so I smiled and said (and meant): Good luck! I hope he listened because for myself it seems too late to go back home.

Here where he’ll be happy (it’s the tiny green drop on the map):