Weirdest thing happened today. In the tiny town of Mandal [our final destination] I felt as if I had stepped into the smallest world ever. We were all invited to the home of Sissel, one of the Rotary club members [who has actually participated in a GSE trip to Alabama - but that't not the crazy part] for dinner. Over casual conversation I posed the seemingly normal question to my soon-to-be host father "Is your club hosting a Rotary high school exchange student?" To which he replied "No, but we did last year. We hosted a young boy from MN."
How cool! The natural follow-up question was "Which city is he from?" It took him a moment to respond with "New Ulm." NEW ULM?! I must have heard him incorrectly. My New Ulm? Population 13,000 New Ulm? It couldn't be. Oh but yes it was true! A young man [Henry] studied in Mandal last year. He is actually my brother's age - and in fact they played soccer together when they were younger! [I just got off the phone with him and they may even be playing soccer together tonight]
I am still stunned that I travel across the world and find this connection. From little New Ulm to little Mandal I was shown that the world can be one degree of separation away. I never would have thought waking up this morning, that I would be staying in the same room that a fellow New Ulmer stayed in one short year ago.
This entire month I have been finding ways to connect with people here [it helps that I am originally from MN which is like "Little Norway" in the US.] It is comforting to know that the relationships that I am building now will last. This trip has shown me just how important relationships are. I have learned that we all don't have to be so disconnected. We can all work together to make this a better place - the world is not so big. As I fall asleep tonight, all I can think is "Isn't life funny?"
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