And to top it off - we had a lovely company Christmas party (dinner and dance). Open bar, flowing champagne, little bowls of creamy food, and a dance floor of perfect slipperiness (it allowed me to totally bust a move in shoes that are otherwise impossible to walk in). We had a great time.
We even dressed up!
You get the general idea --- shmancy!
So have I put your minds at ease? Hana = busy. Not to worry.
Allright, now that I have cleared that up, now I can tell you the real story. I will preface the story by warning you that it does go back some years... but I need to take you back and tell you this story in chronological order. So sit tight - it will make sense why I'm telling you this story now - you just have to read it right to the end.
About 5 years ago, when Rob and I still lived in Japan (and before we were even together, I think!) we went out with a group of friends to a club in Osaka. We danced until the wee hours and then caught the last train home to my friend Nana's house in a small town called Gojo, in the south part of Nara prefecture. Gojo is the last stop on the last train running from Osaka to southern Nara, and it's special in that when you get on in Osaka, you have to sit in the appropriate coach, as about halfway through the voyage, the train splits; one half goes north to Kyoto, and one half goes south, to Nara. We arrived at about 2:30am in Gojo, the last stop at the very south end of the line, when we notice another group of foreigners get off the train as well. Well - at the time, my friend Nana (Asian-American) and another girl (an Asian-New Zealander) were the only foreigners in the town, so to see a group of white girls at 2:30am was quite a sight. Obviously, they didn't know where they were, and as we had suspected, they had got onto the wrong coach. Instead of heading north to Kyoto, they ended up with us in what was essentially the middle of nowhere.
It was lucky that they took exactly the same train as we did, and stayed on the train until the very last stop - or they might have been stuck out in the cold, sleeping at a train station! But through complete chance, they were on OUR train and got off at OUR stop... so they came back to Nana's house, and we all spent the night there, snuggled up all together so we could fit. And funny enough, two of the girls were Canadian, and one was even from Vancouver! What a small world, we thought. Fancy running into another Vancouverite in such a remote place in the middle of the night! And on top of that, she taught in southern Kyoto, very close to where my grandparents lived. What were the chances? (Are you calculating them...?)
Flash forward to the winter of 2005 - two years ago - at my former boss' house-warming party in East Vancouver. As I have a habit of being perpetually on time, I was there about an hour and a half before anyone else showed up... except for another friend of my boss, who was a teacher in Richmond. And hey - wouldn't you know it, I was teaching in Richmond at the time as well (supply teaching). What a coincidence! And hey - we had both taught in Japan on the JET program at roughly the same time. Another coincidence... but not SO strange, as there are many teachers in Vancouver who have done the same. But wait... we taught in a similar area of Japan as well - she even taught very near to where my grandparents lived. Ummm... wait a minute.
"This is going to sound like a really strange question," I asked, "but while you were living in Japan, did you ever take the last train home from Osaka and get stranded in a remote town and have to stay with a Japanese-American girl and a bunch of her friends?"
YES. It was HER! The same Vancouverite from that night almost three years prior! Now.. what are the chances of that?? We laughed to think that we could meet again on the other side of the world, and ended the night jokingly with, "We don't need your number, I'm sure we'll see you again on the other side of the world!"
Are you getting where this story is going?...
So last Thursday, we went to go and see my friend Alexia's band play at a pub near Kings Cross Station. And while standing at the bar, speaking to Lex's boyfriend and his friend, a random Canadian girl walks up to me and asks me, "Sorry, but are you Canadian from Vancouver? Is your name Hana?"
I know what you're thinking... impossible! She is pulling my leg! Well... at least it's not your finger... and no, I'm not pulling anything! This was the same girl. We HAD met on the other side of the world!! So just to prove that it's not a lie, here is a picture with her and her husband.
Convinced that this could not be mere coincidence, we have finally exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses, and plan to meet deliberately next time. :) The world is definitely a small place.
And another good thing about that night...The Heartstrings (http://www.theheartstrings.com/) . They are really fun to watch. And, as all good bands do, they have a trumpet and glockenspiels! (Lex gets to play the glock!...and keyboard and percussion and vocals... but the glock is the coolest!!)
Allright, now that I have cleared that up, now I can tell you the real story. I will preface the story by warning you that it does go back some years... but I need to take you back and tell you this story in chronological order. So sit tight - it will make sense why I'm telling you this story now - you just have to read it right to the end.
About 5 years ago, when Rob and I still lived in Japan (and before we were even together, I think!) we went out with a group of friends to a club in Osaka. We danced until the wee hours and then caught the last train home to my friend Nana's house in a small town called Gojo, in the south part of Nara prefecture. Gojo is the last stop on the last train running from Osaka to southern Nara, and it's special in that when you get on in Osaka, you have to sit in the appropriate coach, as about halfway through the voyage, the train splits; one half goes north to Kyoto, and one half goes south, to Nara. We arrived at about 2:30am in Gojo, the last stop at the very south end of the line, when we notice another group of foreigners get off the train as well. Well - at the time, my friend Nana (Asian-American) and another girl (an Asian-New Zealander) were the only foreigners in the town, so to see a group of white girls at 2:30am was quite a sight. Obviously, they didn't know where they were, and as we had suspected, they had got onto the wrong coach. Instead of heading north to Kyoto, they ended up with us in what was essentially the middle of nowhere.
It was lucky that they took exactly the same train as we did, and stayed on the train until the very last stop - or they might have been stuck out in the cold, sleeping at a train station! But through complete chance, they were on OUR train and got off at OUR stop... so they came back to Nana's house, and we all spent the night there, snuggled up all together so we could fit. And funny enough, two of the girls were Canadian, and one was even from Vancouver! What a small world, we thought. Fancy running into another Vancouverite in such a remote place in the middle of the night! And on top of that, she taught in southern Kyoto, very close to where my grandparents lived. What were the chances? (Are you calculating them...?)
Flash forward to the winter of 2005 - two years ago - at my former boss' house-warming party in East Vancouver. As I have a habit of being perpetually on time, I was there about an hour and a half before anyone else showed up... except for another friend of my boss, who was a teacher in Richmond. And hey - wouldn't you know it, I was teaching in Richmond at the time as well (supply teaching). What a coincidence! And hey - we had both taught in Japan on the JET program at roughly the same time. Another coincidence... but not SO strange, as there are many teachers in Vancouver who have done the same. But wait... we taught in a similar area of Japan as well - she even taught very near to where my grandparents lived. Ummm... wait a minute.
"This is going to sound like a really strange question," I asked, "but while you were living in Japan, did you ever take the last train home from Osaka and get stranded in a remote town and have to stay with a Japanese-American girl and a bunch of her friends?"
YES. It was HER! The same Vancouverite from that night almost three years prior! Now.. what are the chances of that?? We laughed to think that we could meet again on the other side of the world, and ended the night jokingly with, "We don't need your number, I'm sure we'll see you again on the other side of the world!"
Are you getting where this story is going?...
So last Thursday, we went to go and see my friend Alexia's band play at a pub near Kings Cross Station. And while standing at the bar, speaking to Lex's boyfriend and his friend, a random Canadian girl walks up to me and asks me, "Sorry, but are you Canadian from Vancouver? Is your name Hana?"
I know what you're thinking... impossible! She is pulling my leg! Well... at least it's not your finger... and no, I'm not pulling anything! This was the same girl. We HAD met on the other side of the world!! So just to prove that it's not a lie, here is a picture with her and her husband.
Convinced that this could not be mere coincidence, we have finally exchanged numbers and e-mail addresses, and plan to meet deliberately next time. :) The world is definitely a small place.And another good thing about that night...The Heartstrings (http://www.theheartstrings.com/) . They are really fun to watch. And, as all good bands do, they have a trumpet and glockenspiels! (Lex gets to play the glock!...and keyboard and percussion and vocals... but the glock is the coolest!!)
They will be playing again in the new year, so keep checking their website if you are in the London area. Or even if you're not - they have some tracks up to listen to, and it's just a cool website.
Nothing beats a glockenspiel.
1 comment:
I remember that story =) Super weird but fantastic!
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