My linkie (part 1)

I’ve realized that I haven’t mentioned Felix in this blog. And he DEFINITELY deserves to be mentioned!

I find the story of how our whole friendship started pretty amusing, but somehow the people I talk to don’t find it as exotic… :s

In any case, today was one of those days in which I thought about my dear Felix, and I think it’s only fair to dedicate a little space to him.

It all started one 14th of January in 2002. I had just arrived in Johannesburg International Airport, after a long flight via Sao Paulo. I was heading toward Swaziland, where I would live for the following two years while attending Waterford Kamlhaba UWCSA.

I waited at an almost empty gate for the tiny airplane that would take me to my destination. Next to me were three boys who looked my age, only that they looked slightly less clueless. In fact, they looked like they had everything under control… No excitement, no desperate looks trying to find another foreigner destined for the same place in that lost corner of the world. Just three perfectly collected guys, sitting down unperturbed while talking in a language that I did not understand.

I was wearing a poncho, so I was clearly stating my alien status. Indeed, it didn’t take long before the three boys and I were already engaged in chatter. I quickly learned that they were all German (that somehow seemed to explain the lack of despair on their faces and their perfect English pronunciation) and before I knew it, the four of us were sitting on a winged bus headed to the tiny landlocked Kingdom of Swaziland.

While overflying the short distance separating point A from B, I spent most of the time talking to one of the guys, a blond good looking boy of short stature (sorry!!). I probably spoke very precarious English, but we managed to understand each other. At some point, for no particular reason and just out of the blue, I started thinking “this guy probably has his birthday on the same day as mine” (Yeah, I know, totally stupid thought). I think he was still enthusiastically saying something, but I couldn’t take that thought out of my head, so I finally interrupted him and asked (again, waaaay out of the blue!) “when’s your birthday?”.

And there it was, the correct answer… Indeed, he was born on the same day as me, only one year before. Our birthday was due in a few days after our arrival in Swaziland.