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)
About Me
- Glenda Larke
- Malaysia
- My life has been described by one of my editors as “impossibly exotic” – although really it is not my life, but me, that’s the exotic. I’m the uprooted plant, the exotic who doesn’t belong, always living in someone else’s backyard...
An Australian living in Malaysia. Writer, traveler, environmentalist. Author of The Isles of Glory trilogy (The Aware, Gilfeather, The Tainted); The Mirage Makers trilogy (Heart of the Mirage, The Shadow of Tyr, Song of the Shiver Barrens) and, writing as Glenda Noramly, a stand-alone book Havenstar. The latest trilogy is called The Watergivers in Australia and the Stormlord trilogy elsewhere: THE LAST STORMLORD, STORMLORD RISING, STORMLORD'S EXILE
Havenstar
You can buy my first published book (now out of print) as an eBook for your kindle, most ereaders, iPad etc.
CLICK ON THE COVER for the link to buy.
5 comments:
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!
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