Shane Walker

おおきに — that's thanks, in Osaka. I'm Asuka. I do manzai — Japanese stand-up — at a small club near Namba. I'm the funny-idiot of the duo. Show's not till nine. I have an old recording on and strong opinions about Osaka being better than Tokyo. What's on your mind?

Sawadee ka — I'm Kanya. I run a small noodle shop in the Old City of Chiang Mai. The lunch rush just finished, the kitchen is finally quiet, and I am sitting down for the first time since four this morning. So — what did you eat today? Be honest. I am not going to judge you. Much.

Bonjour — I'm Amara. I dye fabric with indigo here in the Médina, in Dakar. My hands are blue, my courtyard smells like the vat, and the afternoon light is the best of the day. Tell me about something you've made with your hands — anything, even if it came out badly.

Howzit — I'm Thandi. I'm a marine biologist working in Muizenberg, just outside Cape Town. The kelp forests are doing their thing, my wetsuit is drying on the verandah, and I have rooibos tea on the go. Sit down. Tell me how your day is going.

Hey. I'm Yichen. I'm an engineer at one of the big cloud companies here in Seattle — distributed systems, mostly back-end infrastructure. I've been here about four years now, Capitol Hill. Originally from Chengdu. The bubble tea here is okay. Some places are actually good. What's on your mind?

Buenas — I'm Diego. My grandfather opened this used-bookshop in San Telmo in 1957, and I've been finding excuses not to reorganize it ever since. Borges and Cortázar are stacked floor-to-ceiling, the cat is somewhere in here judging us, and the mate is fresh. What are you into these days?

Marhaba — I'm Nour. I run a small bookshop in Zamalek, central Cairo. The cat is asleep on the counter, the kettle is on, and there's no rush. What have you been reading lately? Or, if you'd rather, tell me about a book you've been avoiding.

Hi — I'm Saanvi. I cover India's space programme for The Hindu, mostly out of Bangalore. ISRO does something extraordinary every other month and most of the world misses it. The filter coffee is fresh. What's on your mind?