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.
A stranger held everything I owned while I pushed my car out of a snowbank
My car was stuck in a snowbank in Griffintown at 8.30am and a stranger held my coffee, my gloves and my phone while I pushed, then handed all three back one by one like a ceremony. We got it out on the fourth push. He said, have a good day, and went back to his own car, which was also stuck. I helped him. It took five...
Thank youThank you for counting my change until I understood it
On a Monday morning in a little shop in Garza I could not work out the colones and handed over a note that was far too large. The woman counted my change back into my hand three times, slowly, coin by coin, until I understood every one. She was not irritated. She said, again? I said, again. I now understand colones, an...
Thank youPelican, I am not angry. I am watching
At Ojo de Agua on a Saturday afternoon, a pelican took the fish I was grilling right off the plate, flew twenty meters, and then, as I stood there with my arms out, dropped it back on the sand. Slightly eaten. Slightly sandy. Mine again. I ate the half that was left. I would like to thank the pelican for this unusual f...
Found a friendWe finished a crossword on a stalled MARTA train and never missed a week
The MARTA train stopped between stations for twenty minutes on a Thursday and a woman next to me folded her newspaper to the crossword and said, I am stuck on seven across. I knew it. She knew twelve down. By the time the train moved we had finished it. We got off at different stops and promised to meet on the same tra...
A chance meetingTraffic stopped both ways for a rooster in Ybor City
A rooster crossed 7th Avenue in Ybor City at lunchtime on Wednesday with enormous purpose and traffic stopped in both directions. A man on a bicycle saluted. A woman got out of her car to watch. The rooster reached the curb, looked at everyone, and walked into a doorway. The street was entirely silent for three seconds...
Local tipKeep a small torch by the door and charge your phone before dark
Keep a small torch by the door and charge your phone before you go out to Calle Loiza in the evening. Power outages happen here, and I found out by standing in a dark stairwell with my phone light on and a battery that was nearly flat. The street carries on in the dark, music included, but you will want to see your own...
A chance meetingNobody could agree on how to help a turtle stuck on its back
A turtle was stuck upside down on a log at Wekiwa Springs State Park on Saturday morning and nine strangers stood around it, each with an opinion. One person wanted to help. One said, nature. One said, nature but with help. A man in a hat said, give me a minute, and flipped it over with a stick. The turtle left without...
A chance meetingShe laughed at my first pupusa and ate my fourth
A woman in the village at El Zonte put my hands into a bowl of masa one Saturday afternoon and showed me, step by step, how to make a pupusa. She laughed at my first one. She laughed at my second. She did not laugh at my third, which she looked at for a long time. She ate my fourth. She did not say anything. I have not...
First time hereThe siren on my first Thursday in Roma Norte
Notes from my first week in Roma Norte. Altitude: I climbed a flight of stairs and had to stop on the landing. Nobody warns you. It passed. Water: filtered jug in the flat, bottled for everything else. I stopped asking questions about it. Alert: a loud siren went off from phones and a street speaker. I stood in the kit...
Found a friendI held the lid for a fisherman at Punta Sur and got a fish tail
At Punta Sur a fisherman was trying to fit a very large fish into a very small bucket, and I offered to hold the lid. We sat on a rock for an hour, he with the bucket and me with the lid, both a little unsure how it had happened. He gave me the tail. I gave him my sandwich. Neither of us has discussed the exchange rate...
A chance meetingA pigeon landed on the bride and the whole park applauded when it left
A bride and groom were taking photographs in Balboa Park on a Saturday afternoon when a pigeon landed on the top of the bride's hair like a crown and stayed for eight seconds. The photographer shot every frame. The bride did not move. The groom was crying with laughter. A crowd of strangers watched in silence, then app...
Found a friendWe both blamed the other for the broken bench on the Cinta Costera
The bench on the Cinta Costera had been broken for weeks, one leg shorter than the others. One evening at 7pm I sat on it and tilted. A man two meters away sat on the same bench and tilted too. We both stood up. We both looked at the bench. We both blamed the other. It was the best argument I have had in Panama. We sit...
First time hereThe card machine asked me for a tip before I had my coffee
In my first week I stood at a counter in Wicker Park, tapped my card, and the screen turned to face me with tip buttons. The coffee had not been made yet. Back home I would have tapped away and thought nothing of it. Here, a tip of about 20 percent is simply what people do, and I spent the walk home wondering how an ow...
A small kindnessDear woman with the groceries, how are the ants?
I was lost in the Zona Romantica with a map I could not read and a bus I could not find. A woman carrying groceries said, follow me, and walked fifteen minutes out of her way, talking the entire time about her garden. Tomatoes, a lime tree, a problem with ants. She pointed at the correct stop and waited until the bus c...
Thank youOn your left, you said, like a lullaby
I was drifting across the Katy Trail in my own thoughts one Saturday morning when a runner behind me said, on your left, in a voice so soft and apologetic it felt like being tucked into bed. I moved over. The runner thanked me, like I had done something. I have been thinking about that voice for days. I say it the same...
Found a friendThe slowest elevator in the South End gave me a neighbour
The elevator in my building in the South End takes four minutes to reach the third floor. One winter evening I shared it with a man holding a pot with a lid on. We talked about soup for the whole ride and for ten more minutes in the corridor. He brought me a bowl on Friday. I leave him bread. I think we have both agree...
OverheardThe boat does not know who is a tourist, please sit evenly
Crossing Dubai Creek on an abra, the little boat was full of commuters, shoppers and people with cameras. The man at the back said, "Please sit evenly. The boat does not know who is a tourist." Everyone shuffled. A woman beside me moved her shopping bags to the other side without being asked, and the boat settled. I lo...
Local tipVisit Angkor Wat after the sunrise crowd has gone for breakfast
Angkor Wat was built as a temple and it still feels like one. Most visitors arrive for sunrise and then leave together for breakfast, so the quiet part of the morning comes right after. I have walked guests in at both times and the second is calmer, with room to stand in the outer galleries. Agree the tuk tuk price and...
Local tipKeep an extra layer in your bag even when the morning feels mild
Chinook winds can warm a winter day quickly and the cold can come straight back. I have no clean statistic on how often that happens, so I rely on my own record. The day I left my coat at home in Kensington because the morning felt mild, the afternoon proved me wrong. Now an extra layer lives in my bag all winter, fold...
Question for localsDo locals tip the same at a counter as at a table?
Many places in the Bishop Arts District hand me a screen with tip choices before I have even touched my coffee. I know sit down meals get the usual restaurant percentage. I also think about what a small place keeps after card fees, so I want to get this right and not just guess. Do people here tip the same percentage a...
OverheardIs it always this hot? Only when someone is in a hurry.
The broth decided it for me. I was at a counter inside the Mercado Municipal when a customer asked the cook, "Is it always this hot?" She said, "Only when someone is in a hurry," and slid the bowl a little further away from him. He waited. It took a while, and then he ate it properly, slowly, with the spoon held low. I...
First time hereFireworks before sunrise in San Miguel de Allende
The first sound I heard in San Miguel de Allende was not a bell. It was a rocket. It went off before sunrise somewhere near the Jardin Principal. I sat up. Nothing was wrong. It was a fiesta. There are many. Altitude: about 1,900 meters. I slept badly at first. Streets: steep cobblestones. Wear shoes with grip. Firewor...
Overheard'It's cheaper out there, but you pay for it in gas and patience'
'It's cheaper out there, but you pay for it in gas and patience.' A woman said this to her friend on a bench at Encanto Park, both holding paper cups, both looking at the water instead of each other. The friend said, 'So it's the same price.' Neither of them laughed. I am weighing the same trade myself, quieter but fur...
First time hereMy first week, I thought something had gone wrong on the street in Astoria
In my first week I walked down a street in Astoria in the evening and thought something had gone wrong. Black bags were stacked along the curb, whole rows of them, like a collection nobody had come for. Where I come from we have containers, and I kept looking for one. Here you put the bags out and the truck comes. Nobo...
