The people you meet in DC

Summer 2021. Dupont Circle in DC. 7:30pm. DC Bike Party starts in about half an hour, and there’s already a large crowd. Going towards the center of it to snap some pictures of cool bikes, which DCBP is famous for, I see this middle age gentleman with a nice road bike. Not that I’m that interested in road bikes, but I’ll take a picture anyway.

• You mind if I take a picture of your bike?
• Not at all, he responds with an accent
• Where are you from (that’s pretty much the standard conversation opening in DC, with so few people actually being from DC)
• I’m from Mali
• Ah, nice

And since a few days earlier, Emmanuel Macron, the French President, had formulate, in a widely publicized speech, a new policy towards Mali, I start to engage him on it.

• So what do you think of Macron’s speech the other day?
• Well… [and then he starts talking about it in such an expert way that I’m a bit left behind in the conversation, having only read about the new policy mostly through the headlines. Quite frankly, he seems to know so much about it that it’s probably better that I let him talk and just listen. But to sum it up, he’s very much in favor of it]
• Wow, you know a lot about it. Do you work for the Embassy of Mali?
• Yes, I do.
• Oh cool. What do you do over there?
• I’m the Ambassador!

And there you go, next time you’re at DCBP, or perhaps riding on the road, if you see some cool guy riding his bike, ask him about Mali. He might be the ambassador!