How to talk to strangers

Hi! My name is Pavel but people call me Curious Pavel. That is because I love asking questions. I am curious about travelling, history, sports, videos, but mainly I am curious about people. It fascinates me when I learn something new from someone else's stories. Their culture, food, country or even a curious story from their past.

Well, that wasn't always the case. I spent my teenage years playing Counter Strike at a semi-pro level. Sure, I was meeting new people at tournaments and meet-ups but I wasn't the type that would bring them together. Even the fact that I was part of a folklore dance troupe from 7 to 18 years of age did not do much. But this comes as no surprise to me now. I was happy the way it was and I did not need a constant flow of people in my life. This is in complete contrast with nowadays, as meeting new people makes me feel energised.

Things started to change for me when I went to university at the age of 18. The summer of my 20th year I went for a work-and-travel program in Alaska for 3 months. The following summer I started working as an entertainer in a hotel. These were the stepping stones that turned around my perspective on human interaction. The biggest one being the hotel entertainment. As an entertainer you have to communicate with everyone in the hotel, no matter how happy or grumpy they are! I worked in entertainment for 5 years and each year was opening my mind more and more.

Fast forward, so far I have changed jobs more than 10 times in my life. When I say jobs, I do not mean positions. I am talking about industries. All these changes I have done to favour the happiness in my life. I was rarely after the "big money" but instead preferred the job I would love. We spend loads of time at work so why not be in a happy place? All this change helped me discover new interests. It also got me close to many people. People from different nationalities, speaking different languages, with different backgrounds. All these changes taught me how to befriend people and how to do it fast. So now I would like to share this knowledge with you.