Stop me if you have heard this one.
A few years ago, some coworkers from India–Rohit and Anand–visited for several months for training. It was their first time to the States and they were anxious to see some of the local attractions. Someone graciously loaned them a guidebook on Philadelphia, but other than that, they were on their own most of the time.
I thought I could at least flip through the book with them and point out what was worth their time. Yes to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. No to South Street. Upon flipping to the page on Valley Forge, I asked them if they were interested in history. They said they wanted to see anything involved with the birth of America. Realizing that a taxi ride all the way out to Valley Forge was excessive, I offered to take them.
The fledging tour guide in me saw an opportunity to share American history with some visitors eager to learn. I spent several hours designing a map using Microsoft’s MapPoint as the base. I plotted our work location on the map along with all the key battles between Washington’s Crossing (1776) and the Battle of White marsh (1777). My goal was to emphasize that we were working in the middle of some serious historical ground.
I went the “extra” mile and attempted to translate Valley Forge into Hindi. Using Google Translator, I came up with “वैली फॉर्ज,” which turned out was more of a phonetic translation. Still, they got a good laugh out of it when I presented nice, color copies.
Before we even left for the park, we spent some time over lunch reviewing Washington’s strategic dilemma before he performed his famous crossing. Using the map, we reviewed the numerous setbacks during 1777 and the decision to encamp at Valley Forge. The goal was to give them some context before visiting the site.
The tour of the park was successful. We checked out the museum first and held some guns, but skipped the outdated video.
They asked loads of questions, which is always a good sign. Their main comment was on the larger than expected size of the park.
The experience was a good time for all three of us. If any of you work with coworkers visiting from other countries, I highly recommend you offer to give them tours of whatever local attractions are in the area. Imagine if you were in India or some other unfamiliar place. A friendly local can make the experience much more memorable.
[maj update=”01/14/12″]After I published this, Rohit and Anand dug up their photos from the trip.[/maj]
Here is Anand and me inside Washington’s headquarters.
Here is Anand and me outside Washington’s headquarters.
Rohit and I inside Washington’s headquarters.
Here is Rohit and me near the corner of the Schuylkill River and Valley creek, on the northwest side of the park.
