Left in the air

[Robin4]

I have an interesting situation and I am not sure how to handle it!

My current guests are booked here for three + weeks. They are here in Australia from England and booked at the request of a daughter, her husband and grandson they had not seen for a decade! Three days into their stay they had a falling out with their daughter who has not had any contact with them since!

They are lovely people and I feel terrible for them. Their return flight means they are committed to stay for almost another two weeks, and, as nice as they are, I am sure they feel uncomfortable about the situation.

I want to take them under my wing and show them some of the hospitality and country they thought their family would show them.

Is this doing the wrong thing? Should I not get involved and just leave them to it?

Cheers.....Rob

[Alexandra316]

@Robin4 I think it's extremely kind of you to think of offering. If it's something that you're comfortable doing, I would go ahead an extend an offer. The worst they can say is no if they're not comfortable. Your kindness might make a really difficult time more bearable for them.

[Fred13]

You can't go wrong (and be a wonderful contribution) if you walk in 'parallel' to them, playing the part of a fun, tour guide, acting oblivious of their present personal dilemma, since that is something they will have to sort out by themselves. In fact, it may help them to put their feelings in proper perspective.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Robin4

Personally, I think your guests would be grateful for the offer. Whether they take you up on it may be a different story - they may feel down about what happened with their daughter and might not want to go out or be with other people. Or maybe it will be a welcome distraction. But as long as you avoid the sensitive topics and keep it light and breezy and casual...... I'd think, why not??? 

[Robin4]

@Fred13 @Jessica-and-Henry0 @Alexandra316

Hey, thank you so much, it is hard to know where to draw the line with hosting!

We have had late afternoon drinks and nibbles on two occasions and I had already invited them in for dinner tomorrow evening...I have a really nice Aussie dinner lined up and I was thinking of inviting them on a trip into the Flinders Ranges (about 450 Kms north of here). I have bragged to John that you can actually read a book by startlight alone in the outback, and I would like to prove it to him and show them both that their trip to the other side of the world was in some small way worth it despite the family issues they have had.

@Fred13 once you leave the coast and start to make the climb up into the Flinders Ranges you travel through a 'crease' in the hills called the 'Pichi Richi Pass'. The local government used to have it signposted at each end but gave up because they would no sooner erect the signs than someone would come along with a can of white paint and white out the two 'P's  and the 'R' !!

Cheers......Rob

[Fred13]

Well, after having to use 'White-Out' on my computer screen, I finally got it! 😉

(God bless the British culture, if anything for their great sense of humor.)

[Alexandra316]

@Robin4 LOL! "That's why we can't have nice things!"

I definitely think that your intervention could significantly change the trip for them. Nice to have such a positive impact on someone's life.

[Robin4]

'British culture' be buggered Fred, a pom would not think of that!

We here use that expression affectionately, but I believe the English don't look at it that way!

It's origons come from the time Australia was a penal colony for the British Isles, and the expression was POME....Prisoner Of Mother England!

Now it just refers to anyone who has an association with England.

Cheers.....Rob

[Fred13]

Speaking of cultures: my true calling was to be a college professor on English History (long story), so I do use many of their colloquialisms in my language. My son (also American) is a 'cultural mess'; educated in the British Isles (St. Andrews in Scotland) but is now in China and speaks fluent Mandarin. He teaches Scotish dancing to Chinese after hours. When I visit him there and watch him switch from Mandarin to 'British' English back and forth during one of his classes, he sounds like he is from another planet!   

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Fred13

But for most people like your son, switching between languages is so natural we don't really think much about it any more 🙂 You look at the person/people you need to talk to and the right language just starts to come out.

[Fred13]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 It still amazes me, especially when I hear Europeans go from German-French-English- Spanish without a hitch when conducting an international conversation. Come to think about it I speak four languages myself: Spanish, American English, Urban English and Bad English. 😆

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Fred13

In my case, it's American English, Korean and Konglish.......and I can listen and speak at the same time (simultaneous interpreting) 🙂

[Fred13]

Konglish! Yes why switch when you can speak both at the same time, killing two birds with one stone sort of speak.

[Robin4]

@Fred13

I walked through the foyer of a Beijing hotel and as I walked past the reception desk I clamly said....

"Nǐ hǎo ma" and all the girls behind the desk burst out laughing!!

There is only one gesture in this world that stands out when trying to express yourself and that is.....pointing!

[Fred13]

Precisely what I would do in Korea, safer grounds, for everytime I attempted to speak the language I would get either laughter, suspicious stares or angry looks. I gave up on that endevour in a jiffy.