"Oh, you're Canadian; I used to know a guy in Canada, do you know Dave from Kelowna?"

[marnanightingale]

And then, of course, you walk into a coffeeshop in Rossland, BC, see a guy wearing a Keeping it Riel tshirt which his daughter brought back from her trip to Winnepeg with Katimavik, and discover that said daughter almost certainly knows pyroclasticgrub.

Then you headdesk, like, a lot, while your Yank wife maybe laughs at you a little.

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Comments

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Life has laughed at me like that, too. Lo these many decades ago, in Beijing before China was hot:
Chinese dude: "Oh, you're an American in Beijing. I know an American who's traveling there, do you know him?"
me, restraining myself from sarcastic comment because while the US is much smaller than PRC, 250MM (plus miscounted Canadians) is still a lot of people: "I sincerely doubt it."
Chinese dude: "His name is Tom."
me: "That's a very common name."
Chinese dude, checking: "His family name is [unusual English last name]"
me: !!

It wasn't just someone I knew, it was someone who's family has been classmates with me and mine for TWO GENERATIONS across four educational institutions.

To top it off, while we were hanging out, we happened across a third classmate.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i just got home from china! stop making me want to go back. ;)

i did not run into anyone i knew face to face there, though. (many invisible internet friends, whose paths i had planned to cross.)