When I was at UWA (University of Western Australia) about a million years ago, there were stacks of foreign students from developing nations. I joined the International Club and came to know many of them, and some of those friendships have lasted to this day. (Oh, yeah, I married one of those guys too.)
Now I see that one of those students, whom I remember as a modest guitar-playing guy with a nice singing voice and a charming shyness, is now Vice-President of Indonesia. Congratulations Boediono*! If my memory is not playing tricks (and it does, I will admit), a few times I had a meal in the house he was renting with a group of students – can’t remember whether he was one of the cooks, but it is likely. I have loved Indonesian food ever since…
Actually, many of those international students went on to be leaders in Africa and Asia – when I think about it, I am amazed to see how many cabinet ministers, attorney-generals, accountant-generals and so on that I have known, from so many different countries. They were top of the line students to begin with, but UWA must have done something right too…
*(also spelled Budiono)
I guess this is name dropping with a vengeance LOL. If you knew them all well enough you could do a fair bit of travelling without paying for hotel fees.
I met a British PM a couple of times, does that count?
Well, all this was 40 years ago, so it means nothing at all! Now, if I could have foreseen the future…
I hope he is a good VP! If he turned out to be bad you would have to pretend you never knew him:-)
OTOH, a bit of infamy can add spice to a CV. I have photos of myself with Abe Saffron and Alan Bond. Does that win me any kudos in the name-dropping stakes?
It might, Satima, if I had a clue who you were talking about!!!
I forgot I used to know a lot of British TV guys when I was a lot younger. Well known faces too.
Wow. Jo – Satima's namedropping is definitely much more exciting than mine.
The two gentlemen named were renowned for their, um, less than honest lifestyles, shall we say? On a very, very large scale at that. Our Satima reveals an interesting past!