Small World

My past year of living abroad and moving from country to country has shown me that as large as the world is, and with all its people, we are all still connected to each other in some form or another. The contacts we make with people, even if just briefly, are somehow maintained and preserved for time. It is when you least expect it that you find yourself drawn back to each other in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely situations. But when you think about it, it all makes sense. Read on if it will entertain you to do so ...

On more than one occasion I would bump into friends from my cohort around Shanghai. It’s one thing to run into someone you know if you live close to each other. I would bump into Karol and Darleen because they lived in the apartment building across from us. But when you are living on the opposite side of the river? More than once I would be on the metro on my way somewhere and would randomly bump into my friend Daniella.

During February 2009 when we were all traveling around the world (mostly Asia) a few of us ended up in Singapore on the first leg of our trip through Southeast Asia. We all knew that we would be in the same country and had made plans to meet up a few times. One day, Lisa and I are doing our own thing (Hippo Tour!) and had made a stop to walk through Singapore’s Chinatown. As we’re walking down a street we hear a familiar voice ask someone to take a photo for them. We look up and who do we see? We see Daniella, Nicolle and Brandy. This happened a few times during our time in Singapore. Another time, Lisa and I were late catching a bus to get somewhere and so we went to the food court to grab some lunch. Who do we see walk through the doors as we’re eating? Daniella and Brandy. Granted Singapore is a small country, but really? We kept bumping into our friends throughout the trip. Eventually we just traveled the rest of the way more or less together.

Another incident during February 2009, but this time when we’re in Thailand. Lisa and I are walking back to our hostel from the beach when we notice a familiar looking guy walking towards us. Turns out it was John, Karol’s boyfriend. Karol is my current roommate. He and his friends happened to be staying at the same beach as well. Did not expect that.

Just recently, I was in my kindergarten’s cafeteria when one of the school nurses turned to Rosa (my TA) and asked her to ask me whether I remembered her. I looked at her but had no idea where I would know her from. And she said that she was a nurse at another kindergarten previously and she remembered me from that school. I told her the name of my past kindergarten I worked at and she nodded her head. So apparently I was teaching English at her old kindergarten and then we both somehow ended up at our current kindergarten. No way.

I would also consider the times when friends of mine would be making a trip to China or were in Asia and we would make the time to meet up. With the exception of Michi’s upcoming December trip, none of my friends made the trip with the sole intention of visiting me. But because they happened to be in China or Asia for other reasons, we’d take the opportunity to touch bases. Such as when I was in Taiwan and met up with Gladys, who was studying for a year at 台大. Or when Tiff and Song were in China with family. Winston is currently in HK/Macau and Irene is in Taiwan. I’m going to try to see what kind of arrangements I can make with this!

It is easy to always picture a certain person in a certain setting. Maybe you knew them from when you were attending school in Los Angeles. So forever that will be how you “see” that person ... with a LA backdrop. Or maybe you’ve always pictured someone with a Shanghai background. It is when you remove that person’s familiar background that you start to see a person in a different way. I noticed that these were the same people I’ve always known but now there was something special. It was like discovering something new about a good friend.

So what can we take from this? As humans and in this grand thing we call “life” we are all connected. People will cross paths when they don’t expect to. While the world is physically big, our own little worlds are smaller. Remember that you are being remembered by someone or that you are doing something that will effect someone. You may not think it is of importance at the moment, but somewhere down the road you’ll bump into someone and realize something pulled you together again. And to end this with a total cliche: It’s a small world after all.