Have you ever been in a
situation where you wondered how odd the situation was? I think we all have. As
I was traveling these past two years, trust me, on so many occasions I have
wondered about that same thing.
There was a guy from my
school who I didn't talk to that much. However after graduation we bumped into
each other once or twice and he told me that he lived in Berlin. We agreed to
meet up if I ever visit Berlin, which was likely to happen considering that I
was moving to Oldenburg for my Masters. That was exciting. We eventually met up
and had a cocktail or two. Now, the odd thing happened when I was traveling
around former Yugoslavia with a friend from home. I received a text from that
guy wondering how long I was going to stay in Dubrovnik. I told him I would
stay another day or two, and he informed me that he was planning on coming
there as well. We met for some late dinner that night and ended up walking
around the old city, admiring the beauty of the Dalmatian Coast. We spoke of a
lot of things - our lives abroad, traveling, and the people we have met... I
told him that the coolest person I had met was an Armenian lady in Uganda - she
was married to an American who spoke Armenian better than I did, and they both
worked in the development field, traveling and working on really cool projects.
Together they had lived in 11 countries over 20 years and her house looked like
a museum with all kinds of souvenirs she had collected from different corners
of the world. My friend there thought for a moment and said, "I know her.
I was in Tajikistan and I saw someone in the cafe that looked very Armenian. I
asked her if she was and we ended up having coffee when she told me how much
she loves traveling..." And yes, we checked. It was the same person.
The world is really that
small.
My dad's friend turned out to
be living in the same small town in Norway that I used to live in and she ended
up being my unofficial Godmother of my yet-to-be-born children - the kindest
and most wonderful person. And the first café I entered in Germany turned out
to be owned by an Armenian, and even though the cafe was called Havana where
they searched Mediterranean food -- the place had an Armenian scent to it.
I met a guy once - clearly a
German guy. We talked for a little bit and he asked me where I was from. I
replied that I was from Armenia and he exclaimed "Wow!! Tso, inchkh
es?" (How are you? - Gyumri dialect) He told me he had a friend from
Gyumri and he learned a couple of expressions. Mostly swear words, but still.
Many of my friendships
started pretty odd. For instance, one of my closest friends in the whole world
is from Serbia. We met one night in a bar during a salsa party. I had just
moved back to Slovenia from Argentina, and didn't know a soul in Ljubljana,
except for a very unfortunate Canadian photographer who turned out to be a pig.
There I was - sitting in a bar watching people dance salsa thinking about the
unfairness of the world and how lonely I was... Two girls were sitting there
and for some reason looking at me. I went to sit at their table and introduced
myself, even though nobody really invited me there. The two girls turned out to
be from Serbia and really nice. We met for some coffee a couple of days later.
The topic of guys came up and I shared what special kind of pig I had met a
week earlier at the same bar. One of the girls told me that the same thing had
happened to her as well, only that the guy she met was a photographer from
Canada.... Yep, same guy! That ginormous pig! We bonded over this incident and
now are really good friends. What were the odds of that happening?
I lived in Buenos Aires for
almost 4 amazing months during which I found out that I was really passionate
about Latin Dances. I took salsa classes for 2 months and was absolutely
carried away by the beauty and passion of the dance. Mostly, I feared that when
I move to Armenia, I wouldn't be able to continue learning and dancing and that
a huge chunk of my life would be empty. One of the last days in Buenos Aires I
went to a party with a couple of friends of mine. We sat there and stared at
really cool dancers, wishing that one day we would be able to dance as
graciously as they do. There was one guy that danced particularly beautifully.
He was tall and handsome, with a huge nose and chest hair, but not too
much... I stared at him for good twenty minutes and cursed him for dancing so
well and not being Armenian. Who was I going to dance in Armenia? I could have
moved to another country to dance, but I doubt that it would work. Stupid
social dances.... Then I stood up to go ask for some water to chill from all
the envy. My Cuban dance teacher was standing there and started talking to me
"Hey Armenia, how are you? I come to Armenia with you! hahahaha".
Then the strangest thing happened. He turned to the godlike-dancing guy who
coincidentally was standing at the bar as well and started speaking about
something (Really couldn't make up his Cubanish) but definitely he mentioned
Armenia. Then turned to me and said "You from Armenia, he from
Armenia..." What bullshit?! No!! He is messing with me. The tall
chest-hair guy turned to me and said "Hay es?" (Are you Armenian?' I
betted my eyes for good 30 seconds before I realized that he was actually
Armenian and that I wasn't daydreaming. The strangest thing was that he turned
out to be the grandson of one of the most famous Armenian actors - Mher
Mkrtchyan. I ended up meeting his family and had quite a lovely time at their
house. What were the odds of that happening?
These were only a couple of
examples of how I wondered about the strange incidents of life or how small the
world was. Coincidences are what make my travels particularly memorable, and
the abovementioned stories weren't even half of the interesting things that
happened to me. These were only those that came off the top of my head. I am
sure I will take my time to reminisce more about the interesting coincidences I
have witnessed.
