The Russian Connection: One of my visitors was a teacher in Russia and wanted to see inside a San Francisco public school. I arranged for him to visit a second grade class. The students enthusiastically welcomed him. He pulled up a bill out of his wallet and showed it to the class. He asked the class who the man was. Many hands went up and he discovered that they all thought the person to be Abraham Lincoln, because he was on money and had a beard. But, no it was Lenin who was also famous but in Russia. And where is Russia? Here on the map was Russia and here is San Francisco. I came away with a conscious awaking about my cultural lens. As I look at different situations as I travel, I may not perceive them correctly. I need to reflect, discuss what I think I perceive and ask for clarification. Discovering antique quilts at Esprit, of all places: A Servas visitor from Australia, was an artist who wanted to see the wall hangings at Esprit, a women's clothes designer and distributor. I said I did not think they had quilts but would call to see if we could visit them. Much to my surprise, the company headquarters was filled with antique quilts, the company provided a catalogue of their quilts which could be purchased and there were open visiting hours. No, there was no publicity about this display and the company preferred word of mouth. When we visited, I did not know as we walked through the large brick walled building whether to look at the fabulous quilts or at how the company headquarters was organized. I realized that these quilts were made by women and were such designs as white on white squares that would be seen at the Museum of Modern Art a hundred or so years later. I realized that my visitor had shown me part of San Francisco that I was completely unaware of, but thanks to her I learned about them. When the company was sold, the quilts were donated to a museum for all to see.