It's A Small World, Afterall

First of all, I hope that song is now stuck in you head.  Because it has been stuck in mine for a couple of days now, and I want to share the joy with all of you readers :)

I have always thought it was a small world.  The older I get, the more I find myself running into people I am somehow connected to, and I run into them in completely random places.  I think my time at Magic Kingdom demonstrates perfectly: First, my family and I ran into people from Ankeny, and my mom had a delightful chat with them.  Then, when we were waiting in line for Pirates of the Caribbean, the guy operating the ride saw my Iowa tshirt, and yelled, "Go Hawks!"  He was originally from Iowa (and a Hawk Fan!).  Finally, when we were waiting in line to get out of the park, we ran into family from Hopkinton, the same (VERY small) town my grandma is from.  After talking to them, we found out that their grandma and my great grandma were cousins.  We were related to the randoms we ran into in line at Disney World.  You might be thinking, "Well, yeah, you can find a connection to pretty much anybody on the planet- it's like 6 degrees of seperation."  But what I think is interesting is that these connections even have the ability to be made.

So what does this have to do with me being in Santiago?  Let me tell you.

Right after I found out I got this job I found out that someone I knew would also be traveling to Santiago around the same time as me.  Out of the few people I know in this world, I would not be the only person I knew in Santiago.  Whether it be a casual acquaintance or a dear close friend, I think it still points to what a small world it is.


Right after my going away party I ran into an old roommate who wasn't able to make it to the party.  She asked where I was going, and when I told her Santiago, her face lit up.  She has a friend currently living here, and has been living here for awhile.  She said that he would probably be willing to show me around and help me with adjusting.  After talking to him, I find out two more things that make me say, "It's a small fucking world."  1. Most of his gringo friends are English teachers, and most of them work at the same institute I work at.  2. We are practically neighbors.  He lives near the metro stop I usually go to, so we live very near each other. 

People I know in Santiago count is up to 2 before even leaving.

Now that I am here, I have met people, obviously.  Crazy Clea is my favorite.  I knew we would be good friends when I was telling her about my new peanut butter addiction (which is going to be difficult to deal with because I ate the jar of peanut butter I brought from home in less than a week, and I can't find any at the grocery store).  When I said the words "peanut butter" her face lit up- she loves peanut butter too!  Part of why I found this so exciting was because she is from South Africa, and I did not know they had peanut butter there (I operate under the assumption that no place else in the world has peanut butter, not because I think the US is the only place cool enough to enjoy peanut butter, but because I assume everybody else just has Nutella).  I couldn't believe I found another person that loved peanut butter so much, and she was from the other side of the world!  Not only that, but she also loves Big Bang Theory.  I am one of the very few people I know that not only like, but love the show.  And Clea loves it to.  Both of us actually brought episodes on our hard drives!  When I went over to her place last night we found out that her roommate (who is from Australia) also loves The Big Bang Theory.  Not only did they have access to this random American show (that none of my friends watch), but they liked it (which none of my friends do).  We also talked about how much we enjoy How I Met Your Mother, but everybody loves that, so it wasn't as profound for me.

This world is such a magical and beautiful place, and I love it.

Peace and love.