The Social Network

You know, it's been a bit weird. The connections, how it's all falling into place... it's weird. Good, but weird.

It started in December. I posted the following message on Facebook:
Okay, Network of Socialness, I need your help. I'm heading over to London mid-January and I don't have anywhere to live yet!! Anyone have any contacts over there who may be willing to help me out? Let me know if anyone needs a roomie, has a room or flat to rent, or even has a spare bedroom I could live in for a couple of weeks when I get there, while I look for a place. Thank-you!!!

As a result, my friend Terrence sent my email address to a friend of his, Tina. When Tina emailed me, she explained that she needed to return to Canada for the month of January to renew her working Visa. So, she said, I could stay in her room from January 13th (when I arrived) to the end of January. This, I thought, was perfect! I had somewhere to go when I arrived, and a base to work from while looking for something more permanent, to begin in February. Great! (And another big THANK-YOU to Terrence for making this connection!)


So Tina and I made plans. We worked something out for rent money, and discovered that our travel plans over Christmas overlapped so that we could meet in person and exchange the keys. One day in early January, I traveled into downtown Vancouver to meet this girl who had generously offered me her space. But how would we find each other? I told her what I was wearing, and we joked that this was starting to feel like a blind date.

When she walked into the Chapters location we had agreed on, and looked around for me, we both began to laugh. Completely coincidentally, we know each other! We both volunteered for an organization called Students for Literacy while studying at UVic. We also ran into each other on a TOC placement in Victoria a few years later. How random is THAT?!?!


But the randomness doesn't end there.


Fast forward a week, and I was arriving in London. I took a cab to the new place with all of my suitcases, and moved myself in. About half an hour later, I received an email from Tina saying that her plans had changed and she was NOT coming back to London, so my temporary-2-week room turned into a more permanent place. Which is great - I love my roommates and it was nice to just unpack once! That night, one of my new roomies (Joe) took me out with a couple of his friends. We had a lovely dinner at a great place called Cha Cha Moon. On our way home, Joe and I chatted about friends and teaching and whatnot. I have a School Break coming up in February, so I was telling him about my thoughts for travel plans and he mentioned that a few of his Teacher-friends are going to Egypt. I thought that sounded pretty cool and mentally added it to my list of "places to go while I'm living on Europe's doorstep."


The next morning, I finally connected with a friend from university, Nicole. She's been living and teaching here for a few months. She sent me a Facebook message with her phone number and invited me to check out the Imperial War Museum later that day. While checking Facebook, a message Nicole wrote to another friend of ours came up on my NewsFeed. In it, she mentioned her upcoming trip to Egypt in February! Hmmm...that sounded familiar. Could it be that my friend Nicole was ALSO a friend of my new roommate?


What are the chances, right?


So I walked into my kitchen to ask Joe if he happened to have a friend named Nicole who had studied at UVic. Yes, in fact, he did, and he was in mid-text-conversation with her, making plans to visit the Imperial War Museum!

Nicole had absolutely no idea that Joe and I knew each other (how could she? We'd only met two days prior!), let alone that we were living in the same house. And yet she was merrily messaging away, making plans with both of us simultaneously.

Life is crazy.

~~~~~

On a smaller, but still very cool note: A friend of mine from Victoria, Sasha, has a sister living here in London. Sasha connected us before I left Canada, and we exchanged a few messages (again, Thank-You, Facebook!). I finally met Emma last weekend. We went out for a drink and then she took me to a friend's birthday party. When her boyfriend Goran showed up, he was wearing a "Vancouver Mt.Seymour" t-shirt (which he bought here in London!). It was a nice little piece of home :)