Before I made my way across the ocean to Hamburg I contacted the International School of Hamburg to scope out teaching possibilities. Shortly after my first email went out, I got a response from Abbey, an American teacher now teaching kindergarten at the school. She reached out to say that she understood my visa dilemma and so kindly offered to help me solve the puzzle of becoming a teacher in a foreign land. She would be away for the first few weeks after we arrived but we planned to meet up shortly after. I was instantly so grateful for her. An American friend already! Score.
A few weeks after our move and borderline desperate to make friends with someone--anyone we could communicate with clearly--I found information about a Fourth of July picnic. Despite 95 degree weather and a long commute, Reggie and I amazingly found the discrete location of this comforting red, white, and blue celebration. After allowing ourselves to stand around and feel awkward for a only few minutes, we joined the food line, obviously. Right in front of us were two people our age which we, of course, found intriguing. As soon as we overheard one of them say they were from Chicago Reg whispered, "We have to make friends with them." Now, more than half a year later we know that when he heard us say we were from Detroit he told Mary, "Talk to them."
A few minutes into our first conversation after learning that Mary had Spartan roommates back in Chicago, I mentioned the International School. "I have a friend that teaches there", Mary said (and then I got my first taste of just how small our big world is), "her name is Abbey." What?! No.
We had found our first English-speaking friends. Score again.
In a city 1.5 million people big it's pretty amazing how often things like this happen.
A month or so after our move, I received an email from a super sweet American woman who had been reading my blog. She was in Hamburg for a month with her husband while he was here on business. After chatting with her briefly and arranging a coffee date we discovered that not only did we live in the same quarter of Hamburg, and not even just the same street...she lived directly below me. Whaaaat? No.
Oh yeah, there are more where that came from.
My wonderful friend, Brenda (who is also the next President of my beloved American Women's Club), came to Hamburg two years ago from California. As soon as we met and shared the typical story about where we came from I learned that her family is originally from the Owosso area, which is where I, of course, lived during my student teaching year. Whoa.
Though not as note worthy but entirely just as freaky, we had a couple come to tour Seedlings this week looking for schooling possibilities for their son. It was wild enough that they were from Michigan, but it got a lot creepier when they told me they're currently living in Northville, which is only thirty minutes from Reggie's house in Michigan. Whoa. And whoa again. A third whoa was granted when I later found out that the German woman that brought them to Seedlings and was showing them around Hamburg was none other than Tina, a friend, fellow member of the AWC, and major helper with my duties as the Activities Coordinator. Not knowing my school was the one she was at, she waited upstairs while the Northville couple came down to meet me, unbeknownst to both of us that we were in the same building at the same time. Freaky.
With a slightly higher freaky factor comes the story of the German guy on the train that introduced himself when he discovered I speak English. A few minutes into the classic "where are you from?" speech I learned that he had lived in Michigan for a year as a high school youth exchange student. But not just anywhere in Michigan--in Waterford, my hometown. And not just any high school in Waterford (there are, of course, only two) but to my high school's eternal rival. I was annoyed for a second because, afterall, rivals are rivals, but since there's an ocean and a decade between that drama I decided to keep the friendliness up for the convo. ;)
And so it goes. Every once in awhile another creepy small world story creeps up on me and I am again amazed at the many incidents in life that are incredible coincidences.
A few weeks after our move and borderline desperate to make friends with someone--anyone we could communicate with clearly--I found information about a Fourth of July picnic. Despite 95 degree weather and a long commute, Reggie and I amazingly found the discrete location of this comforting red, white, and blue celebration. After allowing ourselves to stand around and feel awkward for a only few minutes, we joined the food line, obviously. Right in front of us were two people our age which we, of course, found intriguing. As soon as we overheard one of them say they were from Chicago Reg whispered, "We have to make friends with them." Now, more than half a year later we know that when he heard us say we were from Detroit he told Mary, "Talk to them."
A few minutes into our first conversation after learning that Mary had Spartan roommates back in Chicago, I mentioned the International School. "I have a friend that teaches there", Mary said (and then I got my first taste of just how small our big world is), "her name is Abbey." What?! No.
We had found our first English-speaking friends. Score again.
 |
| with Mary on New Year's Eve |
In a city 1.5 million people big it's pretty amazing how often things like this happen.
A month or so after our move, I received an email from a super sweet American woman who had been reading my blog. She was in Hamburg for a month with her husband while he was here on business. After chatting with her briefly and arranging a coffee date we discovered that not only did we live in the same quarter of Hamburg, and not even just the same street...she lived directly below me. Whaaaat? No.
Oh yeah, there are more where that came from.
My wonderful friend, Brenda (who is also the next President of my beloved American Women's Club), came to Hamburg two years ago from California. As soon as we met and shared the typical story about where we came from I learned that her family is originally from the Owosso area, which is where I, of course, lived during my student teaching year. Whoa.
 |
| an afternoon of tea and scones at Luehmann's Teestube with Brenda, Jennifer, Kate, Jana, and Mary |
Though not as note worthy but entirely just as freaky, we had a couple come to tour Seedlings this week looking for schooling possibilities for their son. It was wild enough that they were from Michigan, but it got a lot creepier when they told me they're currently living in Northville, which is only thirty minutes from Reggie's house in Michigan. Whoa. And whoa again. A third whoa was granted when I later found out that the German woman that brought them to Seedlings and was showing them around Hamburg was none other than Tina, a friend, fellow member of the AWC, and major helper with my duties as the Activities Coordinator. Not knowing my school was the one she was at, she waited upstairs while the Northville couple came down to meet me, unbeknownst to both of us that we were in the same building at the same time. Freaky.
With a slightly higher freaky factor comes the story of the German guy on the train that introduced himself when he discovered I speak English. A few minutes into the classic "where are you from?" speech I learned that he had lived in Michigan for a year as a high school youth exchange student. But not just anywhere in Michigan--in Waterford, my hometown. And not just any high school in Waterford (there are, of course, only two) but to my high school's eternal rival. I was annoyed for a second because, afterall, rivals are rivals, but since there's an ocean and a decade between that drama I decided to keep the friendliness up for the convo. ;)
And so it goes. Every once in awhile another creepy small world story creeps up on me and I am again amazed at the many incidents in life that are incredible coincidences.
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