Chance encounters

When I woke up this morning, I didn't think that I would be discussing Taylor Park, Ridgeland Commons or Madison St, some of the places in my hometown. But then, it's pretty difficult to know what to expect here.

I was at the bus station in Iringa, waiting for a bus back to Arusha when I saw some other foreigners at the station. I usually don't engage with other foreigners unless they approach me first. It's mostly a fear that I will find out that they are tourists and that we likely have nothing in common. But this time, I decided to walk up and greet the three of them (two guys, one girl). I learned that one of them was a Peace Corps education volunteer in southern Tanzania and that the other two were heading north. Inevitably, the conversation took a turn towards where we came from (the two guys were Americans and the girl was Austrian). I said that I come from Chicago (close enough, at any rate). One of the guys turned to me and asked which high school (clearly a sign of someone also from the Chicagoland area) and I told him OPRF. His jaw dropped and he told me that he went to Fenwick (the other high school in my hometown). Turns out he lives four blocks away from me and was one year ahead of me in school, although I don't think our paths ever crossed back home. We bonded a lot, but when the bus arrived, we found ourselves seated pretty far apart, so we didn't have a chance to talk much more.

Pretty weird, huh?