stranger than fiction

I may have mentioned my friend here, Elise. She is a fellow Australian and we met in the local supermarket after hearing each other's accents. Once we got talking we discovered that we'd both lived in Singapore (some of it at the same time), she's married to a Norwegian and has lived in Norway (I was an exchange student there). She also hails from the same area of Sydney that we've lived in, even going to the school my kids went to for swimming lessons. It's so nice to be with her as she is someone who gets my life.

Last night we went out with her and her husband to celebrate both his birthday and Norwegian national day. We went to a Thai restaurant locally which was great. As ex pat Australians who've lived in Asia, Thai food is something we all crave and love. It was really fun and we had endless conversations about where we've lived. You know the kind of conversations that rquire insider knowledge. Then Ragnar said to me, "you know Georgia, you are not the only person I know who has been an exchange stundent in Drammen", and started telling me about this young Thai man who used to work for him in Singapore called Akarin. And yep, I know Akarin. He was in the same Norwegian language course with me and I have photos of him in my Norwegian album. He became a good friend of theirs in Singapore. Talk about a SMALL world. I am still in shock by it today. There we were; 3 Aussies and a Norwegian making a connection with a friendship I had 18 years ago in Norway and the common ground...Singapore. That's not even 6 degrees of separation, and considering Ragnar is 10 years older than me is all just so improbable and unlikely. I've been thinking about it all day and just had to share.