It's A Celebration

[00:00:01] Welcome back to another episode of rhythm and Roam, we're so excited to be all together. I'm Benef and I'm here with Trecia and Paul and this is the podcast where we talk about our travel adventures

[00:00:13] as they relate to culture, cultural similarities, differences, misconceptions and all the craziness in between and this is a very special show. Oh my god, what is the first time we're ever in the same age? Like I just met Trecia, I don't know. Like physically, like 10-hour ago.

[00:00:33] Yeah, so this is insane. But first of all, we have to say we're all in Denver, so that we've all converged onto, we're in Denver, Colorado too. All in one spot. And we're kind of first of everything, just met Benef today.

[00:00:45] We're actually like, full on makeup, we actually have on like a full outfit. We actually like, we're not on a Zoom channel where we're just seeing like the waste of kind of being a separate round. I don't know.

[00:00:57] I think I specifically just wanted to have my waste of right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like we're doing it. We're lit. I don't know if the people are saying that right now. Also the start of season two. Yeah, we can you believe that we did 11 whole episodes.

[00:01:14] That's a lot and it doesn't seem, it went by really fast and time goes by really fast. And you know what? Since it's our first, I have to say this, I really really do enjoy working with you too. Young, beautiful ladies.

[00:01:27] So thank you guys very much for being here. I'm so excited to see where the season takes us. Yeah, definitely. And I think there's a lot of great things that's going to come together and I would not have missed this.

[00:01:52] You know, so I said, gamut, I'm leaving Paris and I'm coming to Denver. That's right. And it was the best thing. This is you never kind of thing to as well. So. Well, and you also invited some special guests. Yes. Show today.

[00:02:07] And I thought it would, I thought it would be an appropriate episode to be able to do that. And I want it.

[00:02:13] And I, as soon as I knew that you, Trisha at first, I think it started with you because you said you were going to come to Denver. And then I was like, wait a minute. Beneath lives in Denver or not Denver, but colorado.

[00:02:24] And I was like, then why don't we just all meet up? I'm the only one that's far away and I'll just fly or something like that's whatever. And it worked out.

[00:02:32] And then I just said, but wait, I have a buddy who I know from my time in the military and in college. Who also lives in Colorado. Yes. And I was like, this is perfect because he loves, well, he has a great story.

[00:02:46] And I thought it would be great for us to do this between him and his wife. We both went to college in Miami. I went to University of Miami. He actually went to Florida in International University, but we met through ROTC.

[00:02:58] And the ROTC program at the University of Miami. And Norbert, great guy. We, you know, end up getting into the same military. I don't know how you would say branch. That's so nice. Yeah, I think that's a great job service.

[00:03:15] But I just want to make sure that people understand what I mean by that. We both became feel or till the officers and our journey began from there, but he's, you know, obviously prior service and stuff like this too as well.

[00:03:25] And I don't want to say too much, but I want to be able to explain his journey and his cultural side of the house. He's Latin American or not Latin American. He's from Puerto Rico and Cuban, but I let him.

[00:03:41] Yeah, well, I'm going to say, yeah, well, I'm going to explain it. Yeah, well, I'm going to explain it. And then his wife has a great story to as well. And I thought that this would be a fabulous entry to our first episode to our second season.

[00:03:53] Yeah, right now. Yeah, let's bring out Norbert and then we'll go from there. Norbert. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Hello. We're seeing you all around the body in the previous year. As usual, have a seat. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me.

[00:04:15] A whole studio camera, Mikey, and your face thing. Absolutely. I mean, obviously, we were just talking about how long time of knowing each other and stuff like that. And I just wanted to, if you could just start by giving just a little of yourself and

[00:04:33] where you're from and your background and stuff like that, and we'll go from there. Absolutely. Wow, you're a colorful background. I'm all right. Like, what do I start? I'll be right out of the jeez of that. Yeah. The, um,

[00:04:47] Nope, my, my, oh, my that side, you know, Cuban family, the left Cuba, late in 1961. Landed in Miami. My, my grandfather happened to be working for an American company that offered him job anywhere he wanted. Yeah, he couldn't speak English. So he said, I'll go to Puerto Rico.

[00:05:04] And so that's how they ended up there. Of course, you know, my mom, you know, postborn and raised in Puerto Rico. And that's how they met. And then by the time I was 14, we moved to Miami. And a beautiful Miami beautiful Miami.

[00:05:21] And I just, I went through my high school years in Miami. And then I met Paul and college. Yeah. Because I was the best one that he met. Exactly. Best answer for sure. I got, I don't know. We're not going to talk too much about that.

[00:05:35] But we, we were talking about this. And we want to show you fully understand like when you, how do you identify yourself? Because you're like, he's American. You're like, no, he's not so what? What do we actually say between, like, with you know, his banding?

[00:05:47] Because that's something that I brought up. You know, it's, it's many different. It's like, you know, Latino, Latino, Latino, Latino, what his banding? And I don't know. I just know you as Norb and that's right. That's right. You know, it's, that's a great question.

[00:06:04] It really is because growing up, not all those things were an option. You when you take standards of testing and things. So that's sort of, not a lot of things were options. You know, sort of like just based on how I look. People, you know, are you white?

[00:06:15] Yes, you know, and white. Yes. I, I didn't know any better. And then one day somebody says, no, you need to be exiting this box. I'm like, but I don't identify as that. You know, so then it started with his spanic. Yeah.

[00:06:28] You know, which is traditionally means someone. For instance, what I, you know, the Latin America, Latino, in the context in which I knew it growing up. It was someone related to the Latin, you know, language. You know, what today we call the romantic languages.

[00:06:47] So really the old world, you know, very French, Latino would be, your Latin would be French, Spanish, you know, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, but somehow that has translated to today. You know, I know. You know, so I do sort of when people ask me, I say he's spanic.

[00:07:05] Not you, so I almost always say he's spanic. And I think it's not, I mean, that's what most people say. That's when most people say, yeah. No, some people, you know, use Latino, the use of grammar, Latino, which I'm okay with.

[00:07:17] The one that typically gets me old spun up is Latinx. Oh my god, we were just talking about that. Oh, yeah, that's, we were just talking about that. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's, yeah, that's, yeah, that's, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what is that actually mean?

[00:07:30] But it's a gender, somebody, someone in the United States, they started to, yeah, it's a gender neutral version of saying Latino, Latino. And now, but to me, that feels like cultural appropriation. You know, why would you take my language and come up with a term

[00:07:47] in my language to describe me? You know, like, you know, and I've got in circles with friends on this topic. You know, and multi-generational, you know, like I was my kid. How do you feel when people call you Latinx?

[00:08:00] And then I've asked my mom, you know, a different generation of us. Yeah, and I have yet to meet a Hispanic slash Latino that like that term. But you hear it all the time. I sure, right. I don't know.

[00:08:15] No, no, no, that's, you know what that, and I'm glad you cleared that up because I, like I said, I always would say Hispanic or Latino. Right. And so on. But this is a good segue to transition into what I'm going to ask you on being,

[00:08:30] I'm going to say Latino slash Hispanic, just for comfort. I'm minority and the military, both of us for it. But you as a person. Or how I like to call it ethnically enriched because that's right. That's right. There you go. There you go. That's right.

[00:08:47] But as a minority in the military, how can you give us a little bit of, how does that affect you when it comes to traveling or impact you as a, as a minority officer too, as well.

[00:08:59] Going through the ranks in the military and you retired as a full-bar kernel as well. I just wanted to throw it out. Yeah, yes. But not only that, he was not only promoted, but he was promoted like, like, what did he say double promotion fast traffic?

[00:09:14] He's a lot of his own. So here is, he was like fast fast track. So many times. So I want you to explain to us, when it comes to the travels and deployment, what was that like being in the military?

[00:09:28] And was there any, you know, I don't want to say hardship, but you know what I'm talking about from one minority to another, you know, going through the ranks and dealing with different things. You're in angstitutually. Yeah. I never felt it.

[00:09:45] You know, I felt that I will treat exactly like everybody else. Now individually, you know, within an organization, it might day to day dealings with people. It sometimes became more obvious. It's sometimes in the form of culture. You know, it's just very different culture.

[00:10:04] You know, I thought I understood American culture, well, I'm American. You know, by being born Puerto Rico, I was born with American passports. You know, so you might, I always have been a fight as American. Of course.

[00:10:15] And then you get to, you know, say, young lieutenant, you arrive at Fort Hill, Oklahoma. And then you realize very quickly it's like, what a minute. But not look at your, yeah, if the value of the world is American. Yeah, right.

[00:10:29] It's just like what a minute of your life. People think very differently. They look very different, they value different things. And note that he's bad or wrong. You know, he's fine. He's just different. Yeah. And so that was my first like eye opening experience of like, wow. Right.

[00:10:44] And, and to that, to that explain, in leading, did you feel any, did you feel any drawbacks or did you have any, or traveling, you know, don't traveling to as well? Were you, I don't want to say picked on, but were you always pointed out for, you know,

[00:11:03] That's the way I'm looking at it. I don't know. I mean, he doesn't look different. I mean, you, you. Well, you know, when you talk when he speaks, he's going to be. Yeah. Because you know, we spoke about that. Yeah. You know, that first wall, right? Exactly.

[00:11:17] And what that is. Like, does it feel like when you open your mouth clearly, they're going to know you're not. Right. And that's usually when it happened. Yes. That's what you get. You're walking in. You're walking in. Oh yeah, no, I can tell you very stories about that.

[00:11:30] You're walking in. No, not. Isn't it because of the way I look? You never happened. Yeah. Well, you know, I had a different twist where when I was still a young officer, a senior young commissioner officer that I looked up to.

[00:11:45] And I'm still due to this day, who was also Hispanic pulls me aside. And he tells me, you got to navigate this very, very carefully. And I'm like, how so? You know what? What do you, I don't understand what you're trying to tell me.

[00:11:58] It's like, well, I see that you hang out with this crowd of other officers. But you're not quite them. You're Hispanic. But because the way you look though, he's Hispanic people also kind of don't have and pulled you in either. You know, so you're somewhere in the middle.

[00:12:20] Right. And you're going to have to learn how to navigate that. How to enter both worlds. That's a great way. Yeah, because you look a certain way, but you open your mouth. You sound a different way. Mm-hmm. You were.

[00:12:30] And yeah, I always, you always had to balance that in my career. And I think that's where I was going with that because obviously you can be a a chameleon. Like, you don't be a mouth, you're going to. And I walked on the street.

[00:12:43] But I must say, I mean, I think that is true for most. I think for most of us that are, you know, that are minorities. We have to navigate that whether in the military or, you know, maybe even if it's the corporate world, it seems like same thing.

[00:13:00] We do have to navigate those things because someone will look at me and, you know, and make a judgment. Of course. But then they hear me and they, you know, see me open my mouth.

[00:13:09] And, you know, again, having that same discussion and hear me speak and, yeah, that's a totally different, you know, oh, oh, well, you know, you're not exactly, no, but where are you really from? Oh, yeah. Because now, okay, I know you're not from here.

[00:13:23] I'm like, what do you mean? You know, what does it mean? So, you know, I think all of us have, you know, some kind of story. Yeah. But that's very interesting. And that's why I wanted to bring that out because, I mean, I can obviously tell

[00:13:37] similarities similar stories to what Nora just said to as well. You know, in the sense of, you know, but it was more of, hey, watch how your, you know, hanging out with the black soldiers and his panic soldiers and not the white soldiers.

[00:13:57] Like, like, I literally had someone said that to me in, in deployment when we're in Iraq, kind of thing. I mentioned that because it's slightly still bothers me to be honest with you. Kind of thing. And they're all shoulders. Right. I think I was full of them.

[00:14:12] But it's the fact that someone would pick something out like that because it's not true, but it was just interesting in that sense. But right. That's why I had brought that and then I thought there was, is getting, and when it

[00:14:23] comes to traveling as the same thing, I would assume outside of the military. Oh, yeah. You know, I, I, I, I want to share a story with you guys, that's fascinating. The army assigned me actually to Spain. I love pointing my career.

[00:14:36] You know, I had, I was assigned to a, and they, no, Madrid. I was in a, I was in a, I was assigned to Madrid. While I was there, they had a, it conference that they wanted to send someone to, that was actually back in the United States.

[00:14:52] It was in San Antonio near Fort Sam Houston. And then they picked me of all people that said, hey, we're going to send you to represent our headquarters in this US Army conference for Sam Houston. The whole conference was in civilian clothes.

[00:15:09] You know, so my tag said, you know, major or virtual meeting in this ally force command Madrid. But yeah, so the whole week, I was there for a full week in this conference.

[00:15:21] And on the last day, they had these readouts like this one and one readouts, you know, to get feedback on the conference. So I'm sitting down with them, and I'm like, no, I'm like, oh, yeah, when you do this in the

[00:15:33] future, you think about there's your thing about the issues. And then we're, when I finished, who are like, man, you know a lot of the US Army. And I looked at them, I'm like, why would I know a lot about the US Army?

[00:15:49] They're like, well, you know, being a Spanish officer, like, no, you know, you are Army officer. I never refer into them. No, once in the whole week, I mean, this was like, Montrey through Friday conference. And this is Friday afternoon.

[00:16:01] And no one's who don't heard to them that was an American Army officer. That's wild. And it was all because his name and the accent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's as crazy as Tom.

[00:16:11] Yeah, I mean, but Americans definitely, like, if you've got an accent, they are going to assume you were not American. Yes. I don't remember one of something. Yeah, no, you absolutely are. I promise that whether or not you're born here or naturalized, it doesn't matter or you're not.

[00:16:24] No, yeah, I'm fully foreign. Where are you? Exactly. But I have to ask you this though. Has that, you know, as, as you saw and in that situation, and the spaces that you were in, did that change your perception from that moment?

[00:16:42] Did that change how you saw yourself? Did you find yourself having to, I guess, be more self aware and who you were speaking with and I guess, you yourself aware. You were finding yourself and what groups and how you were traveling and how you were caring

[00:17:02] yourself to do that. Yeah, it really did. I mean, that assignment was life altering for me for many reasons. You know, when I moved from Puerto Rico to the United States, the, I assimilated. I wanted to simulate, you know, I didn't want to stand out.

[00:17:18] You know, so I worked really hard at assimilating. And in my last name, the Middle E has an accent. You know, and in typically, when you're school and forms, there's still no plates for that. So I stopped using it. I stopped using it for years.

[00:17:34] When I arrived at that headquarters, I'm signing into the headquarters of Spanish, non-commissioned office from the other side of the table. And I, I slide my paperwork and he looked at my name. He's coughed at me. He was like, you know, you know how to spell your name?

[00:17:48] Oh, no. Yes, I took the paperwork back and I put the action and it pushed it back to him. He said, of course, I know how to spell my name. And then his response was, well, why didn't you do it right the first time? Oh.

[00:18:00] And that's stuck with me. I'm like, you know what? You're right. Just because I've assimilated so much, does it mean I need to give up things that I know were right? And you know how to spell my name?

[00:18:09] Yeah, he felt like you were giving up a little bit of your cultural. Yeah. So once I returned to United States by next assignment was in Washington State for Louis, you know, I assume, come out with a battalion.

[00:18:21] You know, when they put the name and it'd be signed outside the headquarters, he had the accent. You know, I started signing my email. You actually put the, yeah, yeah. Good for you. And so they're like little tiny things.

[00:18:34] But, you know, but it's who I am and living there going around the country, you know, living there. You're my daily life going to the supermarket and stuff. You know, people could pronounce and spell my name correctly. Yeah, so that was kind of fun. Yeah.

[00:18:50] So just come, I just embraced it. I said, you know what? It is, I'm very American. I'm a 100% American. But it is okay that my family originally Hills from Spain and it's okay to to feel the warmth, you know, and a connection to that. Yeah.

[00:19:07] So do you find that younger generations have different backgrounds and just white America are more comfortable showing that then maybe we were. Because you're adopting it again now. Correct. Correct. But what about like I'm just trying to understand me being the 20 year old through the teenagers.

[00:19:26] They just don't care and it's a tactic then to assimilate if they're coming. Like they have their own definition of things. Correct. I think it's a different time. I agree with that. Yeah, I agree with that. 70s, 80s, 90s.

[00:19:38] I just feel like I get the impression that I think we're just more accepting now. And I know there's pockets of not. pockets of not accepting but we see more color. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:19:50] And I think this is also another reason why we, you know, decided to do this type of podcast not only on a travel part but the culture part because it's obviously.

[00:20:01] Not only interesting but it's important as people of color to be able to not only understand that hey we do travel.

[00:20:09] Hey we do have, you know, certain different backgrounds and stuff like this and not to forget where we come from and how we do it and stuff like that. To as well. But when did you retire? Two years ago. Oh, she's been like, that's like, oh, I'm free.

[00:20:29] And I don't want to step on your toes, stretch your legs. Yeah. If you wanted to happen to the, no, no, I, I know I am but I wanted you to finish your thoughts. No, no, no, no, no, I was done.

[00:20:39] I had another thought but I was waiting and I was going to stuff like that as so on. Well, I mean, and and norbiche that you definitely said that, oh, you know, that you and somehow along when we were we were having this discussion.

[00:20:53] I didn't realize that it was so recently that you actually retired that you had just left. That's like really recent. So thank you for your service for sure. I mean, that is amazing.

[00:21:04] But, and I'm bringing this up and and Paul said it was okay to do this but after. After having received your cancer diagnosis that you have. How, how has it changed your desire now? Because in the military you traveled for work per se.

[00:21:25] Now that you've had this this diagnosis, how does it feel? How does travel? What does that mean to you now? What does, what does that mean now? Yeah, and that's a great question.

[00:21:37] And the, I mean, a lot of things changed. You know, in terms of things that I powered at times. You know, at the time of the diagnosis, I was intending to be in the Army and other 10 years.

[00:21:48] You know, I love what I did. It was fun to me. And, but I realized very fast, you know, when you, you know, stats sense of mortality. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't have that much long to live. At least at the time of the diagnosis.

[00:22:01] It's going to play it out differently thankfully. But the 10th diagnosis, it was like, okay. If I only have this amount of time to live, how do I want to spend that time? And in my case, it was actually travel and my kids, you know, that they became,

[00:22:17] they moved to the top of the list. They should have always been there. That's where separate podcasts. You started edit that part of it. Yeah. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. It's real. It's real. It really, it really is. You're correct. And, you know,

[00:22:35] the kids would be like, oh, no, they know. We've talked about it. Yeah, we've talked about it. And, yeah. And it's sort of traveling. I was like, you know, life, the things that I enjoy about the military had a lot to do with travel.

[00:22:50] And my experiences abroad, whether it was in a combat zone in Afghanistan. Because you're still interacting with the people. You're just too trying to make it the effort. Yeah. I was like, I want to do more of that. But with that arrival. I want to have this experiences.

[00:23:07] I want to feel fulfilled and happy. Yeah. And so I went all in on that. Right. And I spent a lot of time actually in Europe just bouncing around. And I could tell you things. You know, and I honestly got, I do appreciate you bringing this up.

[00:23:24] Because obviously hearing, you know, what you're going through and stuff like somebody else who's listening is going through the same thing. And has gone or has gone through the same thing. And it definitely would be a motivation for someone else to experience. So inspiration for someone else.

[00:23:42] It can be done. No, it can't be done. And this is why you know, you're a person who can say, look, this is not all end all kind of thing. Yeah. And I do want to say this because I know,

[00:23:57] I know, know for a long time too as well. I remember when I heard about it, I was like, there's no effing way. Because this dude, like let me tell you, he worked. This guy worked his asshole for everything and he survived me nuts.

[00:24:11] And because he's, and it's not a bad thing. Yeah. He's perfectionist. And he's, you know, does, but when I heard that, I was like, no way. And you remember I immediately contacted him because you know, you're, you're, you're something on Facebook. And I was like, is this true?

[00:24:26] Oh, I didn't know what to say or whatever. Like, Dan's, yeah, you know, whatever. But I do want to say, I'm glad that the Rob, you're taking and what you're doing and being able to travel. And you have been doing some damn travel. Some really cool stuff.

[00:24:43] Tell us about this thing alone. Yes. Not traveling alone. Why are you traveling with Paul, shall we? You're doing our next guest. We can. Yeah. And so one of our next guests, the beautiful wife of Norm is Sherry. And I actually met Sherry while you were traveling. Yep.

[00:25:05] And it was weird because they were in France already and they were, you put something on, see? I tell you social media can be good. Yeah. And I can't. Yeah. I saw them on, on, on, on posts, something like that. We're social media. We love it.

[00:25:19] And I do, you're in the home already and that's not too far from Paris. I was like, won't you have a chance to come in? Come in, visit. And let's, I want to bring Sherry out and let Sherry be able to give us some more lovely stories. Yes.

[00:25:36] Have a seat. Thank you. Welcome to rhythm in real. I said I wasn't going to try to break this action. No, no, we don't. Please. Please. I would like to say, yes. You're pretty. You're sounding like a... What just the same one thing? Would you like a...

[00:25:54] Oh, oh, oh. That was the one. This is weird. Does he sound like he's from any... I wasn't... Yeah, you did. That was such a cute thing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But, oh, oh. That's not an expression. Where are we?

[00:26:12] We're, which question. Cockney. Cockney. Yeah. It's always called me like... I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Oh, my gosh. You're a like, you're the one. Like the gangster TV, the prefer for like the crowd. Don't try. Yeah.

[00:26:29] Because I was able to get what it is that what we're... We're like some spice, gross up there. But no, no. Thank you. Thank you for also... Don't... Sorry, I didn't want to jump on you. But thank you for also coming in and doing this with...

[00:26:43] Norbert too as well. It's been really helpful. So do you consider yourself British or English or British? Of course. You are British, but if you're British or not, necessarily English is that correct? I guess so. Yeah, I suppose yeah, I see myself as British. I suppose so.

[00:27:00] No, I mean, and we just recently learned that you spent most of your time in Africa. In Hong Kong, right? Mostly Hong Kong. Mostly Hong Kong, OK. And we're just like, yeah. It's fascinating. I don't know what that was like.

[00:27:12] Because I'm sure you do a lot of travel with that too, right? Yeah. We tend to, I mean, we're very lucky because my father is a commercial island pilot who gets travel quite a bit, which is, you know, a privilege. Yeah. Can he still get some more tickets?

[00:27:27] Yeah. Oh. I'm sort of excited when we, I think it was the age of 21 that sort of, I think it was the age of 21 that sort of, I don't know. I don't know. It's slightly annoying. Yeah. We were very fortunate in that sense

[00:27:39] and then we did get travel quite a lot. And I was just, well, I guess. So I'm going to bring this up because Paul has an issue with, like, so far, you're a bad honest Safari, like, teamhood. I mean, because he has a thing with the animals.

[00:27:53] And I don't want to know, like, what it really is like. I think I'd like to understand that. I might still be more of that. I'm not sure if she's trying to understand it. I'm not sure if she's trying to understand it.

[00:28:04] But no, your experience, you liked it. I'm assuming. Yeah. I mean, the ones, I mean, I've only ever been on Tuesday for Farley's and the first time was too many. Very, very much. I'm sure it's hard. The first occasion I can't really remember because I was so little.

[00:28:17] And I think my enduring memory was just of my young brother who was really small and there was this cheetah behind a fence. And it was just sort of buying him up. And that was kind of all I really remember.

[00:28:28] But the second occasion was, I think it was in 2015. And I guess this is what I was going to say was it really depends on the kind of Safari that you go on. But this one was, it was with my first husband.

[00:28:43] And he was actually looking at job with Frankfurt through logical society and approaching. So we were out there and it was very sort of rural wild Africa and no fences separating you from anything. The water, their outdoor shower, black mamba snakes in the shower. Oh, dear.

[00:29:03] That's a fun. So it was true Safari. It was true Safari and every time it was the way. Better the tent that we were sleeping in. Tent. Very no frills. It was amazing. The one next to us in elephant sat on the night before we arrived.

[00:29:19] She's doing a great job. She's doing a great job. She's going to go out to the forest. She's going to go to the forest. Oh, no. I'm going to be very much happy. I'm putting you off. Yeah, there are. And he just very much.

[00:29:30] There isn't a lot of the forest. No, it's a Safari. No, I don't mind Safari's. I love to look on TV on them. Now, I will go to Safari, like I said before. I, the reason why I have issue with it because I'm like,

[00:29:44] we're invading their territories when I always say. And I always say, I see these and I see a cheetah or jaguar. Whatever it is, poached on a Safari car as I guess, as we go on our Jeep or whatever. Watch entirely too much.

[00:29:58] No, no, no, these are photos from other people. Yes, yes. But it's real. I mean, it can happen. I don't want to be next to that cheetah. Yes, because it might be pissed off that day. It's just my day. It will be pissed off.

[00:30:13] So that's all it is. But it's pretty. OK, so it's a little paltre and it was the far end. Where should we go? Where should we go? I'm going Africa because we have no, no, no, no, no. Yes. I definitely want to go see my mother land.

[00:30:28] I think Africa is just one of these places where I've got it. It just really makes you feel like you're at home. So I don't think I could be in the end. We're in Africa again because I don't know if you answer

[00:30:38] that where an Africa did you live? And I know your parents are from. Yes, so far there was from Zimbabwe and Mother was born and raised in Zambia. Amazing. Yeah, so we still have a large group of families on the year out there in South Africa.

[00:30:58] And then also East and Cape as well. Wish I think I'd probably recommend. I am Cape Town. Yes, that's where I want to go. And that's where actually most of when I did that little, what is it called? 21, no, I want to 20. I said 21 of me.

[00:31:14] 20, already as we. No, but the DNA thing. Yes, 23 of me. 23 of me. Thank you. I said 21 of me. And it said that a majority of my heritage or background is from Cape Town South Africa. I followed by sub-Sahara, then England or the UK, English, whatever.

[00:31:36] So I do want to go there and I will definitely get some recommendations from you for that because I want to be able to actually walk to the lands that my founders will be able to. It's like that too as well.

[00:31:49] And partly British and Irish, you know, two hundred. You want to present? I mean, maybe. And then another thing. Yeah. So, but that's really cool. It is. And, and, but how was it your experience when living out? And not only Africa, but also Hong Kong, you said,

[00:32:08] which majority of it was, do you speak the language or... Jesus is really shameful. It's mainly swear words and taxi directions. So, I read it. It's not something to be proud of. It's really hard. You do that. It's the important thing. It's an unfortunately not as much,

[00:32:26] so I really would have liked it. But was the last time you've been to any other places you grew up, I guess? Other than the UK. So yeah, obviously most recently, UK. But Hong Kong last time I was back because then I just had my daughter

[00:32:43] and my father was still living and working out there. And I mean, I hadn't returned for, I think it was probably about 10 years before that. OK. I was in the massive changes. Yeah, it was really fascinating to go back and just to see

[00:32:58] where you grew up, but just from a different level. And also in Africa was there? What was the last time? So last time I was in Africa was in 2015 for the safari. Yeah, when we were considering moving over there. Oh, yeah. That's fairly recent though. Yeah.

[00:33:16] Yeah, for a fairly recent bit, we had just had my daughter and it was in Malaria hotspot. Oh, yes. Maybe on the best of. That's just a little bit. To do that is stuff like that. No, that's excellent is stuff like that.

[00:33:31] Now I don't, I hope I'm not going to step in somewhere. I want to change in topics slightly. To now you're living in America. Yes. Colorado, the bigs act. How do you foresee living here? Yes. Our culture. Food. Yes. The whole gambit.

[00:33:54] Because we spoke about this a lot a bit when we had dinner in Paris and stuff like this. This is true. And Paris, I think, for food is a really difficult comparator because the other so it's amazing for food. Yeah.

[00:34:06] But I think because I've had a bit of an experience living in Virginia and working in DC over the years ago. And Norps did remind me that it was maybe rose tinted a little bit. No.

[00:34:20] I was living in a sort of expat British government community and I think I just maybe sort from a different angle. Yeah, from there angle. So it's really interesting that question has, yeah, I suppose my first true experience

[00:34:33] of living in the States has really been living in Colorado. And I feel like I'm getting the true experience. Which is a place as a whole. I see that in Colorado is beautiful.

[00:34:52] We love to ski, we love the outdoors so that has just been, you know, it's like a playground so you're kind of surrounded in cities for that reason. It's just been absolutely amazing. What about the food?

[00:35:04] The food was a massive thing when we were on the East Coast, sorry, you don't make any things East Coast. I'm sorry. Harley only relates to all of the East Coast and not a specific few.

[00:35:17] But she refers to Virginia as the East Coast and like that's a sound. We're told us this is a few. There's no other Virginia. Yeah, that's a sound. I think that's true. I think that's true. Maybe it was the East Coast but was the colony. Yeah, right.

[00:35:34] Well, I think one of the reasons for being a virgin in Iowa, what you want? I don't know ignorant about British culture to be honest because now that I got to tell this story.

[00:35:45] But yeah, we went to the World Cup, Women's World Cup in 2015 in Canada and it was a Canada in one game and so they started playing the English national anthem but I'm like it's just... I was like, that sounds familiar. No, no, no, no, no.

[00:36:02] I was like, I had no idea that I was like, I had no idea that I was like, I had no idea that we totally rid the song off and say, I mean, we're... But I didn't know when every Korean anthem came up.

[00:36:17] Clearly that was from colonial times. It was like that's an international anthem. That's the anthem. I didn't know. It was the same as the South African anthem. But I'm glad that you...

[00:36:29] But I know you're trying to be nice probably and not saying what you really wanted to say about the food. Yeah, about the food because they ask her about chicken. Please, yeah, what about chicken? This is on my list of bizarre things.

[00:36:43] I was gonna refer to it but I guess the coronator chicken that I got. The coronator chicken you will eat your chicken. Oh, the fish. Which I find really... Yeah. It's like actual curry. Yeah. I don't know where the chicken is. It's supposed to be for cleaners, baby.

[00:37:01] Yeah, I use vinegar too as well. But some people... When you go to the supermarket in England, the other chicken is very pain. It looks like it's a fish color. It's a fish color. It's a fish color. But you're saying they're bleeding in before it's even sold.

[00:37:13] Right, there's this process. This process is part of that process. This is a very US thing. Yes, it is. And this is... She moved to... She was like, what is this? It's not fresh. Yeah, for saying. Everything... That's what I mean were the process.

[00:37:30] And I was telling the situation. No, I was telling the situation. And Trisha, earlier today, I'm like man, I've been now in Europe living over four and a half years now again.

[00:37:39] And I can easily taste the difference in the food that I eat in Europe and back in... Even the Doritos are healthier. The Doritos are healthier. They label it. You know how they... Great everything is through. It's more stringent, I think, than regulations. Oh, they are very stringent.

[00:37:56] Yes. And the Doritos must be making it at a factory there because it's rated B. Which is good. Okay. They have rules that aren't like money generated. No, it's all about the whole. That's the same as it is. It's like a tissue for a happy day. Yeah.

[00:38:12] And that's great because I'm always trying to figure out what... Because let's be honest. British food is also big too as well. So I was just curious. You mean the portions are really important? Portions as well as the food itself. Oh, it's the right thing. I don't know.

[00:38:31] I like the hang is... They're fine. They put it to get more... But it's just... It's just... Yeah. Not always. It's a place where I live, where you get everything in this large. And did you find... Because obviously you have the British accent.

[00:38:49] It's that people come up to you and ask you to... To just read the Fiendra. Yeah. Because they read the New Year. Sorry to record it. You're not that all the time. The restaurant's story. Oh yeah. Actually, yeah, no this is such it.

[00:39:03] This is quite funny because my daughter... She's just gone 13 and we walk into the favorite restaurant in all Colorado Springs. And she goes up and she's quite confident which I love.

[00:39:17] But she walks up to the lady behind the desk and she goes, excuse me and he's a plummy British accent. Excuse me. Can we have a table for three people? Yeah. So we were sort of taking the make out with the British accent.

[00:39:30] I'm putting on a fake British accent. So she turns around and she goes, yes! Yes! I can see you at your table. I'm like this. Really fake accent. And then she notices that we're still talking. She's actually from the game. She's just the look of her.

[00:39:44] Oh, my face. And she actually swapped tables. She was that more... She thought she didn't watch you as so bad. Oh, I thought it was hilarious. And you are parking the car at the table. I want to thought the same thing.

[00:39:55] I would have probably done the same thing. I would have done that. I probably did. I probably did. I probably did. I'm saying, if I didn't travel as much as I thought and which I'm assuming the waiter did not travel as much as we do.

[00:40:08] I was so funny. You know, I probably would have been like, but of course. What's the title? No way she did it. I thought what I was looking on here is like, it's a good accent. You've done a good impression. You've done a good impression.

[00:40:23] It's clear that, you know, that's something that Americans look. Of course we do. We do like to pretend with our accent. Do you do like American? Like is that a thing? Do British people do American accent? Oh, I want to hear it. I want to hear it, Sherry.

[00:40:38] Come on. Give us a sample. Give us a sample. Give us a sample. But if that's how you'll be prepared for this. Okay. The only American accent she can do is New York, 1920. Oh, no. I have now got to hear it. Okay. Forever recent.

[00:40:55] That's the only one she can do. I'm wondering who this is. Tell us. I was just at the background. I must have it since episode. And I was like, I think I'm 18. And I heard it. And that has just stuck forever.

[00:41:08] And now I say it and he finds it. Harry's in there. I'm just, I can tell. I'm no grudging this. It just goes, you guys, you know, let's go play some stick balls. You got to the ballpark. You got to the ballpark. I like it.

[00:41:23] It's like some stick ball. No, you got that right. That's awesome. I love it. I love it. Yeah. No, no, no, no. It was pretty good. And see what was supposed to ask you. What do you find Americans? What do Americans find completely bizarre and non-sensical?

[00:41:39] We flip that. We completely just flip that. No, no, no. It worked. It worked. It worked. It worked. It worked. So what are some, and this is obviously for both of you guys. Absolutely.

[00:41:52] What are any tips that you would or anything you would want to say to folks who are listening or watching that you when it comes to traveling? And because you guys are obviously world travelers as well.

[00:42:06] And for people who have not been outside of the country and drive it or be outside of their city or town. Why? And I don't know if you can prepare that for it. It changes that we're going to do with other people. Yes, yes. I never have seen.

[00:42:23] Yeah. I'll let you guys do it from your perspective. I'm going to do it from your perspective. Yeah. I mean, what I would say, do someone that's thinking about going abroad is just do it. Like just try to take it. Don't overthink it. Don't work about the language.

[00:42:39] Just do it. Because you can travel many different ways. You can take the backpack and get lost in the culture which is my preferred method. I like to immerse in the culture, but if that's a little bit uncomfortable at first, then do a tour.

[00:42:55] You know, then you have a garden right? It's like a garden. It's like a garden. Somebody kind of showing you the way it is very structured. And as you get more confident and comfortable with the travel and the process, then change. And go for it.

[00:43:11] I'll start it out. Interesting. Yeah, no, I think I completely agree. I think one of the main things that I really wanted for my daughter is to live a life well-traveled and you know, see as many different perspectives and cultures as possible.

[00:43:29] I tend to get a little bit sort of fidgety if I've been anywhere long, because then sort of two years. So, I'm... That's an exciting thing. From the military, we're the same. And we two to three years were like, okay, we're going next.

[00:43:44] Yeah, we're going to, you know? It's permanent change in station where we try to go. I'm not sure if we're for like 10 or 15 years of my horrifying time. I mean, and I'm the only non-military one.

[00:43:57] So, that's the thing is like, I should have been in the military, or at least on something, where I've traveled constantly because, you know, unfortunately, my poor husband, he's like, you need to go find something because you need to travel quickly.

[00:44:11] I just... I do not like to stay stagnant and I love people, and I love to travel. So, yeah, anyone that wants to hire me, let me travel. Yeah. Just I need to go. Because I love people. I love talking.

[00:44:24] I love these exchanges that we have with people. I love the synergy. I love, you know, to the conversation. So, the learning, you saw about the learning. And it opens your mind to different things that you would never know.

[00:44:36] Like, you didn't know that we did our chicken the way we did it. I knew something of this, but I didn't know about the chlorine part. I knew it was divinous. I knew it was process. But it's like, the doings is right. Yeah. When I...

[00:44:54] We spent a lot of time in London and when she still had her flat there, she was like, you know, the chicken eggs. You know, they're on the counter. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like that in France. Exactly. It was like, okay, how come we can up...

[00:45:06] I will... I... I researched it because all of it ever seen. You see the fridge. It's fresh. Yeah. And I learned what we do with that way. You know, because we wash them. And then when you do it, you have to refrigerate it.

[00:45:16] So, that's why, like, friends of mine, looked at me weird that I had my eggs in the fridge in France. And I was like, why would they stay out? I can't stay out. They have it out. Once you put it in the refrigerator, yeah. Sorry.

[00:45:32] Once you put it in the refrigerator, you can't take it out again. So... But you're expecting to eat them fairly quickly. Yeah. You're like, what'd I get different here? You buy, like, a dozen and a half, two dozen eggs, like, in one shop. Right.

[00:45:50] When you go to the supermarket in London, you'll have these like, six eggs on. Yeah. You're buying more often, too. Yeah. You're shopping all the way to the... Every day I go to the get my bread, every day. Right. You know, or...

[00:46:05] I mean, you remember, we were doing that when you guys came to visit too as well, and so on. It's definitely a difference. And it's weird because like I said to you guys, I came here and I easily can taste the difference in... And I...

[00:46:20] Well, I had them and I'm gonna say it. Yes. It's horrible. Our food is great, but it's all processed. Yeah. It's on Twitch. You know that... We know that. It's on Twitch and I do. We do love so.

[00:46:33] I guess the last thing I think I guess we want to ask you all is, do you have any... What trips do you have planned for this year? It's only May. So we've been... It's only May. You know, we're talking about a trip till Australia for a wedding.

[00:46:45] You know, October. We're trying to see if we can make that happen. Actually, before then, she's just trying to go visit her mom next month. In England. So then Australia in the fall, and we're talking England again for Christmas. You know, we eat last Christmas here,

[00:47:02] so we're like, let's do it next Christmas with her mom. Yeah, I totally want to call. So this kind of... Yeah. This is very good. No, it's good. I still have yet to spend a Christmas in England. But that's actually one of my favorite places to go is...

[00:47:14] Is it okay? So I'm really hoping that I can do that sometime because the decorations are... Of the charts. I've known them in Christmas, just for sure. So I've never experienced that and I have a cousin that lives there. So I really need to do that. Yeah.

[00:47:29] But you guys then will take a trip to the real Christmas market in Straussburg, France. That's right. Yes. Come on over. Come on over. Come on over. And all y'all, I mean, so many opportunities too. And stuff like that.

[00:47:46] I mean, I just came back from Puerto Rico Monday. I was going to say... For days ago. Isn't it great to just be like... To the freedom, to just like, you know what? I think I'm going to be this and just do that and be spontaneous about it.

[00:47:57] It is of life. Oh, I love it. You know, we were recently... Like in the last three weeks We went to DC together. Came back. Then I spent a few days in Orlando, a few days in Puerto Rico. Then came back.

[00:48:10] And for whatever reason we hadn't traveled in months. And we looked at each other. They were like, oh, oh, oh. You mean a little bit of like... I told her. You mean to the gym for a while and you're going to... You know what I mean?

[00:48:25] I told her this feels like... I told you. And did I tell you? Because I remember and... We got stories to catch up with too though. But when... Because you... Everything was uniform, uniform. But I told you, once you get out of that uniform... And you're like, yo!

[00:48:43] I do love this. I see you always traveling. No, this is great. I can't. So we have to plan our next trip. Yeah. But then... Well, no, I'm saying the three... I'm sorry about that. But we are nearing the end of our tour. Yes. We're enjoying this conversation.

[00:49:00] But... No, we enjoy it. And I do... So I definitely have to say thank you to Sherry and to Norm. I really appreciate you guys. Take in the time when I hear your business cancer take. Join us on our live podcast. And this is... This is... This is...

[00:49:16] This is your main for live podcast. Yeah, I think it's a great place. Maybe the next one will be overseas. You know, if I think together stuff like this. So I want to say thank you. And we appreciate your...

[00:49:27] You know, being here, telling your stories and stuff like that. And I just want to close out by saying, Please do if you haven't already. Been subscribed to our YouTube channel. Please like us, please. Like us, comment. And as well. Also, yes.

[00:49:44] Also, if you guys have other story ideas or topics you want guys to want us to tackle, by all means, send it to us and we will definitely look into trying to get that out there on the air. And please make sure...

[00:49:58] If you have any show ideas, make sure that you email us at pvtpodcast at jmail.com. Thank you. Thanks again. Bye. Thank you.