ばったり会う (running into people you know)

by mo on 01/1/2010

So you’d think that in Kobe, with a population of 1.5 million, you wouldn’t run into people you know so frequently. This is, however, not the case. My high school class had roughly 120 girls, and out of those I knew only maybe 25 by name and the rest by face (plus a couple of neighboring classes).

And yet, I have run into people I know 4 different times in the first 3 days here. Here’s a rundown:

Nozomi – Day 1, 10pm
Who she is: Friend from high school, fellow Orchestra Club member
Where I saw her: On the way back from the μ concert, I was walking with Yuka’s mom. Suddenly, Nozomi and I saw each other. We stopped. Screaming ensued.

Take-chan – Day 2, 10am
Who she is: Friend from high school, hung out several times and we still keep in touch)
Where I saw her: In the center shopping street in Sannomiya, with her boyfriend who’s visiting from Nagoya (she’s visiting from Canada where she’s going to college).

Ryo – Day 2, 1:30pm
Who he is: Studied abroad at my high school in America for a year, met once when I lived here, was just in America for Christmas last week.
Where I saw him: In the center shopping street in Sannomiya, like 30 feet away from where I saw Take-chan.

Furo-chan & Aika – Day 3, 7pm
Who they are: Ate lunch with Furo-chan for the first 3 months or so of my life as an exchange student. Had art class with Aika.
Where I saw them: In the purikura place in Sannomiya on the Hankyu station side. We don’t keep in touch at all, so they had no way of knowing that I was actually in Japan. So they seemed to be close to death-via-shock. We even took a picture to remember it by, before going on to take purikura in our respective groups:
IMG_8110
Mo, Furo, and Mayo

I guess this proves that I don’t actually have to contact anyone to tell them I’m coming; I can just walk around key areas in Kobe and FIND THEM MYSELF. Good to know.