I would like to get to know you well!

The above title is usually mumbled by a lovelorn individual desperate to start a new relationship. My life is complicated enough without me doing this. I'm actually talking about whole countries not individuals.

I have just been watching a TV programme called 'Wild China'. This program is a fascinating insight not only into the wildlife of this wonderful and diverse country, but also into the people. We in the west are fed lots of propaganda about China. I'm sure that most of it is true, as I have spoken to Chinese people who know nothing about massacres committed by their government on their own people. They only tend to know what has happened in their own region. But this shouldn't reflect on the people themselves. I would hate to be judged as person by the actions of our government! I would love to visit it before it gets too modern and becomes another McDonalds outpost!

The people of China seem to be very industrious, inventive and friendly people. This is of course a generalisation, as, in common with all countries, they will have their quota of 'low lifes'.

China is an old country with a wealth of history and is only just now breaking into the modern world. This country is fast becoming the new superpower of the world. Modern technology means that it is getting harder for governments to keep people in the dark about what is happening. It is one of my bucket list 'to dos' to visit this country. A friend of mine who is a head teacher visited schools there as part of an exchange programme. She said it was both fascinating and frightening the way they teach. She told me that I should work in schools over there, but how? They wouldn't understand my poetry, accent, humour, but I would love the chance to work there. Maybe I will get chance to work in an international school there sometime?

As with China, Russia gets quite a bad press, but I don't think that most of the population of Russia know just what is happening around the world. Russia, like China is an old diverse country with beautiful architecture in many of its cities. We tend to think of Russia as a cold inhospitable place, which it can be in winter, a fact that both Napoleon and Hitler overlooked. Russia, though, is such a big country that it also has areas which are very warm. This is another of my bucket list countries to visit. I'm sure that soon it will start to open up and become easier for westerners such as myself to travel around without too much hassle.

I love travel, it broadens the mind and helps you to see life from many different perspectives. Because of politics, we are led to believe many things about many countries, most of them negative. But I'm sure that the ordinary people of these countries, like those here in Britain, are friendly and welcoming.

A friend of mine has a house in Uruguay and has asked me to visit there on many occasions. I would love to visit there, and also Argentina, but it is a problem to get my wife to travel to such places. I wonder what schools there are there that I could visit? I have written before how much better it is to work in a country than to just be a tourist there. You get to meet the locals and see how everyday life is. South America is a very diverse continent, with breathtaking scenery and wildlife. But as with China and Russia poverty has forced people to live life on the edge, and when you do this to people they become unstable. Lots of these countries suffer from the stupidity of their governments and the west's foreign policies. They are victims forced to survive any way they can. Unfortunately all we ever hear about South America is the drugs trade, which is no doubt the major export for most South American countries. But we should really be more worried about the rain forest that is disappearing at an alarming rate. The rain forests are the lungs of the world, and without them we choke.

I know that America is an English speaking country, but they too are completely different in their ways and the way they speak, compared to here in Britain. It would be interesting to see how my humour goes down over there. I think it will be more appreciated in certain states than in others. I know that in America sarcasm and irony are not as common as as they are here in Britain.

So I hope to visit these countries at some point and meet people and swap ideas and stories. And hopefully I will get to know them well.