Human Connections
Real moments between people living abroad: a stranger who helped, a friend you lost touch with, someone you wish you had spoken to.
Thank you for covering my bicycle in the storm, I locked the chain
A storm rolled through La Veleta in the night and I had left my bicycle outside by mistake. In the morning it was under a tarp with a rock on each corner and a small note in Spanish that said, lock the chain next time. I never found out which neighbour did it. The chain has been locked every night since. I leave a mang...
Question for localsHow do locals decide if the water at El Zonte beach is safe today?
I come from a country with a lot of coast, but I am new to this one, and the water at El Zonte beach looks different every morning. Some days people swim far out and other days nobody goes past the wet sand. The ocean currents are strong here, and I would like to learn to read the water instead of guessing. How do loca...
A small kindness"Keep it, I have a drawer full" said the man with the bike patch kit
My bicycle tire had a slow leak and was flat when I came out of a shop in North Park on Sunday morning. A man coming out of the same shop said, take mine, I have a spare in the car, and handed me a patch kit and a pump. We fixed it together on the sidewalk. When I tried to give the kit back he said, keep it, I have a d...
A small kindnessLook where you want to go, he said, and I stopped falling
I tried to ride a borrowed skateboard on the Venice Beach boardwalk and fell on the first push. A man came over without a word, pulled me up by the elbow and told me the secret was to look where you want to go, not at your feet. I looked. I did not fall. I rolled twenty meters. I handed the board back and thanked him....
Lost touchStill looking for the man who paid my ferry fare at Puerto Juarez
I had the wrong amount in my pocket at the ferry window in Puerto Juarez one Saturday morning, and a line was building behind me. A man in a work shirt leaned over, put the missing coins on the counter, and walked straight to the boat without looking back. I have been trying to find a way to return it for months. Cancu...
A small kindnessI bought the cheapest poncho in Harlem and got a free bag with it
A sudden rain in Harlem caught me on 125th Street with no raincoat and a document I could not get wet. A man selling ponchos from a cart looked at me, sold me the cheapest one, then handed me a plastic bag for the document for free. He said, you are going to need both. I did. The poncho split in a week. The bag is stil...
A small kindnessThe water taxi turned around for me at Boca de Tomatlan
I missed the last water taxi at Boca de Tomatlan at sunset by about five minutes, and the boat was already past the rocks. The driver saw me waving from the dock, turned the boat in a slow circle and came back. The other passengers did not complain. One of them made room and one of them held my bag. I rode home with my...
First time hereMy first afternoon on the Corniche, with a sandwich
Story: on my first afternoon in Abu Dhabi I sat on a bench on the Corniche with a sandwich, as one does. A man walking past said something kind and glanced at the sandwich, and I realised I had landed in the middle of Ramadan. I put it back in my bag and ate it later in my room, feeling like a child sent to bed early....
Thank youI told the potatoes thank you at the Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África
I stood in front of a mountain of potatoes at the Mercado de Nuestra Señora de África on Saturday morning and could not tell the old wrinkled ones from the new ones. The man behind the stall picked out the right ones, told me which to boil with the skin on, and slipped in a small jar of red mojo for free. I made them e...
Thank youCount seven, then go, said the older man at Playa La Paz
I stood in the shallows at Playa La Paz one Saturday morning for twenty minutes, unable to decide when to go in. An older man with a board under his arm said, count seven, then go. He stayed next to me for my first six waves and said nothing after except, bien. I came out and realised I had stopped being afraid of the...
OverheardI thought the island would feel smaller
At Nathon pier a young man stood by a very large suitcase and said to his friend, "I thought the island would feel smaller." His friend looked at the suitcase and said, "It is. You are just carrying too much." Neither of them laughed, which made it better. I was waiting for a ferry myself and I will admit I agreed with...
Thank youSomeone folded my laundry in the rain and I never found out who
It rained sideways on a Thursday afternoon in Penestanan while I was out, and my whole line of washing was in it. When I got home everything was folded on a chair on my porch, slightly damp, with a banana leaf on top. I counted my things and every one was there. I asked three neighbours and each said, not me, and smile...
Thank youI did not know paper tickets had to be validated on a Warsaw tram
I got on a Warsaw tram on Thursday morning with a paper ticket and no idea that it had to be validated on board. A woman next to me took my ticket without a word, held it up, and pointed at the validator by the door. A minute later two inspectors came through the tram. I would have paid a fine bigger than my dinner. I...
Thank youIs it normal for a taxi driver to tell you to take a cheaper one?
I got into a taxi on Al Reem Island one evening and asked the price to the Corniche. The driver looked at the meter, looked at me, and said, it will be cheaper if you walk to the next road and flag another one. I did. He was right, it was a third of the price. I rarely meet a man who talks himself out of a fare. I hope...
A small kindnessI carry a lighter now and I do not smoke
My scooter would not start at midnight in Haad Rin. Two men walking back from the beach stopped, pushed it a hundred meters up the hill, cleaned the spark plug with a rag and a lighter, and got it running on the fourth kick. They refused my money, got on their own bikes and rode away. I never found out what was wrong w...
Missed connectionWhat were you writing on Mount Phousi before sunrise?
I was counting the steps up Mount Phousi at 5.40 on a Tuesday morning and lost count at about two hundred, when you passed me on the way down with a yellow notebook under your arm. You nodded at me like we were old neighbours. I was the one panting and holding a banana. I wanted to ask what you were writing at that hou...
Thank youI practised my interview in bad Vietnamese and a stranger played the boss
The night before a job interview I sat on a bench on the Han River promenade at 8pm, practising my answers out loud in bad Vietnamese. An old man two benches down corrected my tones without being asked and then pretended to be the interviewer for twenty minutes. He asked three questions. He was tougher than the real on...
A small kindnessCold water along the bench at Wat Damnak
My phone was dead and my neck was sunburnt when I sat down at Wat Damnak at noon in April, at thirty nine degrees. A monk on the bench under the big tree moved over without a word and slid a bottle of cold water along the wood toward me. We sat for twenty minutes and said maybe six words each. Mine were thank you. His...
Thank youThank you for the water first, then the coconut
I was sick for three days in Sanur and walked the beach path every morning at seven because my room felt too small. The woman at the coconut cart started handing me a cup of water first, then the coconut, and she never added the water to the price. On day four I felt fine and told her. She clapped, twice, and gave me a...
Lost and foundLost: a brown notebook with a green rubber band near Kite Beach
Did anyone find a small brown notebook with a green rubber band, near Kite Beach on Saturday morning? The first page is a column of figures I could not rebuild from memory. I know, I should have taken a photo of it first, and I am embarrassed about that. It is only my monthly spending notes, but it took a long time to...
Thank youLost phone, found behind the orchids at Chatuchak
I dropped my phone near the plant section at Chatuchak Weekend Market on a Saturday and did not notice for forty minutes. When I came back along the same alley the stall owner held it up from behind a pot of orchids and pointed at the screen, which still showed my lock photo. She had kept it charged on a small cable. S...
Thank youNeeds more lime, said the note in my salsa jar
I went away for ten days in July in Arcadia and left a fragile row of tomato plants on the porch. When I got back they were green and every pot was full of water. A note taped to the door said, it was 115, I could not watch. I do not know which neighbor it was. I left a jar of salsa on the doorstep. It was empty and wa...
Thank youThank you for the palm leaf grasshopper in the coconut forest
The basket boat started to spin in the Cam Thanh coconut forest and I was sure I was going over. The boatman never stopped smiling. He steadied the oar with one hand and, with the other, pulled a palm leaf from the water, folded it three times and gave me a small grasshopper. I still have it on my desk. It has gone bro...
Thank youA grandmother pushed my money away and handed me another pupusa
I was alone at Palmarcito beach at lunchtime with no food when a family under a thatched roof waved me over and gave me a plate of pupusas with curtido. I tried to give them money, but the grandmother pushed my hand away and gave me another one. They asked about my country for an hour. Their questions were precise. How...
