Today 4/1/2025, I went to the UPS store to send my snowboard to Whitespace. I won a raffle for this snowboard but its size was too small (144 cm) for me so I contact Whitespace and they told me to send them back for an exchange to my right size (152 cm.)
While I was waiting for the staff to conduct the procedure, a lady noticed the snowboard. She told me that she was going to donate her snowboard rack to a next door store but she asked me whether I wanted it. I said sure.
We both were a bit surprised at this event. What is the chance of her meeting a snowboarder at UPS store when she was about to donate the snowboard rack!
Things like this make me think that a higher power put a piece of puzzles together. This reminded me of my experience in Europe trips.
When I studied at University of Hawaii, I liked a girl who registered for a study abroad program to France. That made me wanted to study in France too. After one month in France, my friend who was not in the study abroad program came to see me in France. We decided to go around Europe. I was at Annecy, France which was one hour away from Geneve, Switzerland by train. We first went to Geneve. My friend wanted to go to Spain. So we got on a night train to Spain but it was jam packed and there was no seat. No way we wanted to spend more than 6 hours not having a seat in a train. We canceled our plan. We decided to go to Italy instead. Then my friend wanted to visit Athens, Greece so we took a ship there.
In Athens, we went to visit Acropolis. On the way back, I saw a back of the girl sitting. That looked so familiar. When I approached her, she was one of the University of Hawaii students who was in our group! She went to Russia, Turkey, and here in Athens, Greece! We took totally different route but met at the same spot!
After Greece, we went to Rome. I went to buy my train ticket back to Paris but the staff was not at the ticket window after one o’clock. Workers were supposed to come back after siesta. Several Italians were angry, shouted, and banged the window. A worker next to our window felt sorry for us and told us she could sell a ticket to the first ten customers. I was at eleventh! I felt what a bad luck. Then three people right in front of me let me go in front of them so that I could buy the ticket. I thanked them and left the ticket window.
One hour later, I met the three again in a big city Rome! I don’t even meet my friends in Osaka city but happened here. The three men told me not to go to a certain spot where three Italian boys steal tourists’ bags. These three men helped me twice once at the ticket window and this time about the thief. I felt that they must be an angel.
After I went back to Paris, I went to Eiffel tower’s highest deck. There, I met several Korean students who studied French at the same school in Annecy which was five hour train ride to Paris!
I flew back to San Francisco before going back to Honolulu. I visited Japan town and went to a cafe to rest. Several university students entered the cafe. I looked at them and one of them looked at me. We were both surprised that we met each other at Waikiki beach two years prior to that day! She took me around San Francisco the next day.
What are the odds to keep meeting people in all over the world? This trip totally changed my perception of life and made me realized that miracles do happen.
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