Friday Five:

1. Where were you born?
I hate this question. *bracing for laughter* Hicksville, Ohio. Seriously. My parents lived in Indiana, but Hicksville is real close to the state line and thus was closest, I guess.

2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don’t live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not?
Well, I never lived there. I guess I’d like to move back to Indiana some day. It’s a good safe place to raise kids, and the cost of living is low. It’s got nice hot summers and cold snowy winters. I liked it.

3. Where in the world do you feel the safest?
Back in Indiana, no question. I never realized til I left how sheltered we were there. Granted, bad stuff still happens, but it’s mostly of the “car hitting a deer” variety as opposed to, say, violent crime.

4. Do you feel you are well-traveled?
Surprisingly, no. I’ve been to a lot of countries, but I don’t think having a stamp in your passport means that you know anything about the place. It just drives me crazy how many Americans have no desire to experience life outside their own country. Do you know how many Americans have passports? Like, less than any other civilized nation in the world. Even Australians, who are much more isolated than Americans, do way more traveling to other countries. I purposefully tried to make sure that my brother and sister would visit overseas (him to Germany, her to England), if only to open their eyes a little bit to a world outside the U.S. It’s such a shock to realize that there are places where under-21s can drink, health care is available for all, and the government isn’t in the pocket of big business and religious wackos. But I’m getting off on a rant. To answer the question, yes, I’ve traveled a lot, but nowhere near as much as my non-U.S. friends have. So I suppose I’m only well-traveled compared to my fellow Yanks.

5. Where is the most interesting place you’ve been?
People think Australia is pretty exotic, but the bits where people live (the cities along the coast) are fairly Westernized. I’d probably say Singapore was the most interesting. It just seemed more “foreign” than any other place I’ve been. (Although Rodd’s friend Kenya has invited us home to Africa next year for a safari, so I may have to revise that.) The most beautiful places were Heidelberg (in Germany), Paris, and Sydney.