Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jajdude]

http://listverse.com/bizarre/top-15-amazing-coincidences/

This is a site I enjoy. The comments are good too.

I was thinking the biggest coincidence I ever experienced was not so interesting, but I'll tell it anyway. Feel free to post your own.

One day when I was in university I met three people I knew, all at separate times of the day. One I met in the uni library, another about 20 minutes later in a building nearby, and the third in a shopping mall near my home then, a few hours later. The coincidence is that they all have the same last name, and these were the only people I knew with that last name. Also I had not seen any of them in a long time before that day. They were people from my past mainly.

[Stormy]

[BritishinSuwon]

Two coincidences, both along the same lines.

First was with my family when I was a child (maybe 8 or 9). We were on vacation in Canada, and going to a Blue Jays game (back when the Jays played at Exhibition Stadium). Anyways, as we were pulling into the parking lot, waiting in traffic, my dad points out a car ahead of us that had a bumper sticker of the local football (soccer) team from our home in the UK. My dad parked in the same area as the person in this car, and it turned out to be a former coworker of my mum that had immigrated to Canada a few years earlier.
The second one actually happened to me here in Korea. My first year here, I was wandering Itaewon and came across a cultural festival being held on the street behind the Hamilton Hotel.
I sit down at one of the tables with my friend, order a beer and some food and am just shooting the shit, when I hear someone say "Holy shit! Are you (my name)?" Turns out, it was a girl I haven't seen since grade school, and she was leaving within that month to go back home.
Small world I guess.

[ddeubel]

I once walked into a building and up an elevator that I'd dreamed about years before and had sealed in a diary (this dream). Led me to read lots and really throw a new wrinkle into my beliefs of free will.....

DD
http://eflclassroom.ning.com

[Young FRANKenstein]

[danby_ll]

I love things like this.

1. When I was in Korea last year, I was walking around Edae with my boyfriend at the time. He said "Oh, let's call Joe (a mutual friend we knew back in Canada) and see if he can meet up with us sometime this week." Joe didn't answer the phone, but 5 minutes later we were walking behind this couple and when the guy turned around, it was Joe.

2. A week later, I was going to Gangnam to meet some friends. As I came out of the station, I ran into a Korean girl I had met in Canada. She told me she was on her way to meet some mutual friends that had all studied at my univeristy. We parted aways and I went to a bar with my friends. 10 minutes later, the girl from before walks into the same bar with a huge group of people I knew from back home. Out of all the bars in Gangnam, let alone Seoul, we ended up at the same one.

It really is a small world.

[poet13]

I was at a party in Washington DC once. I was telling some friends about this crazy broad who had attacked me earlier. She had showed up at my work, said some crazy stuff, and when I left work, she was still there, and she actually hit me several times. Then I turned around, and wouldn't you know, my wife was standing there lookin' as crazy as ever.

[Young FRANKenstein]

Two more:

in '97 again, in the Net Cafe near Kyobo I was on one of the computers probably playing Diablo II and the people on either side of me were discussing their classes and prepping for the next week. The one on my right asked about the spelling of a word and her friend didn't know. Not even taking my eyes from my screen (busy killing demons), I spelled it for her. Then I hear "Frank?!?" I stop, turn my head, and see another schoolmate of mine from high school. Hadn't seen her since Grade 11 English class. We both looked totally different from then, so it's no wonder we were sitting there for so long without recognizing each other. I'm surprised she remembered the sound of my voice.

about 5 years later, working for Pagoda, one of my co-workers was talking about a former Pagoda teacher named Fuzzy.
"Hey, I know a Fuzzy, too. His name wasn't really Fuzzy, though, just he never went by anything else."
"Was his name XXXX? And he spelled it differently, like X-X-X-X?"
"YES! and his last name was XXXXX?"
"Yes!"
"We were co-editors of a newspaper at our uni together more than 10 years ago."

[yawarakaijin]

Long story short. During my 3rd year in Japan. Was chatting with this girl from the internet for about 2 weeks when we finally got around to deciding to meet up for real. We made a date and decided to meet in front of the station. From about 200 possible choices we decided to hit a pool hall for a few friendly games before we went to dinner.

Inside the pool hall their was one other foreigner playing pool. I really didnt give him that much thought as I was actually busier checking out the girl he was with. Yeah, I know. Bad form.

After about 15 minutes i notice the guy staring at me. It took me a second but I noticed him as well. Pat? Yeah. James? Yeah. Holy crap it was an old friend from my highschool lacrosse team. He was at this pool hall because his local watering hole burnt down the week before. I was there on some one off blind internet dating experience.

Two friends from small town Canada meeting up all the way in Japan ( inside Tokyo at that, city of 11 million people ) nearly 15 years later.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Stormy]

[yawarakaijin]

Well being as we were pretty good friends back in highschool I immediately suggested swapping partners. The girl he was with was down for it because well, I'm pretty good looking. My original date had to be convinced but she was down for it in the end. My girl was good to go so I immediately suggested a love hotel. What followed was probably the most amazing night of my...........

Oh wait, this is the coincidence thread right? Not the wishful thinking one?

[cj1976]

My friend Gavin was staying at his girlfriend's house so I called the number he gave me for her house.
To my surprise, an older sounding gentleman answered. I knew it must be a wrong number but I went ahead and asked for Gavin.
I was expecting him to say "Sorry, wrong number" , but he completely threw me and said "Sorry, he's not here at the moment".
At this point, I thought he could be a relative or a friend of the family but I knew his girlfriend lived alone and had no relatives in that area, thus I was getting slightly confused.
"Er...do you know where he is?" I asked.
"Yes, Gavin is at University in Nottingham"

At this point, it clicked that it was definitely a wrong number, but he then started talking about his son Gavin, assuming that I was his friend.
He was such a nice old guy that I didn't want to tell him the truth. He seemed so proud of his son that I just listened and pretended to be an old school pal.

What are the odds, eh?

[poet13]

I saw my grade 5 teacher, (a Mr) on a nude beach in France (Arles) when I was 24. Hadn't seen him in maybe 12 years. He was friends with my mum (same church choir), so my mother dutifully reported in a letter that he mentioned that he had seen me in France. Given how uptight my mother was when I was a kid, I can't imagine he reported the circumstances also.

[bejarano-korea]

I came home from leave from the army and walked from the train station to the bus station and I got talking to a guy with a violin case under his arm at the bus stop - he was telling me how he gave lessons and he always caught the last bus home.

About 10 years later - I got back to my hometown late and walked to the bus station and guess who was there - the guy with the violin case!

I hadn't seen him in those 10 years and I told him about our last meeting but he didn't remember me!