the world is indeed small

i never forget peoples faces. the names go easily in and out of my head, but peoples faces stick there even when i dont want them to.
i welcomed in the new year 2003 at some odd party in zagreb. it was a dress up affair that involved spending a whole day on hair and make up. not really my thing, but i can put my self through such efforts from time to time. the party was fun. the weather was incredible, around 14 degrees, which seemed tropical after moscow. i hung around zagreb for a few days afterwards before heading off to budapest to hand in my applicaiton for ceu. (from there i caught an aeroflot flight back to moscow, arriving in the middle of the night, with the pilot informing us it was minus 30)
my friends zeljka and hrvoje helped me to zagreb train station as i was leaving. i stood in the doorway of the train and we made some jokes as we waited for the whistle to blow. next to us was a couple: a croatian boy and a hungarian girl who were saying lengthy goodbyes in english. i got on the train and ended up sitting next to the girl. we chatted a little bit, and it turned out she was a ceu student. she told me where to go to hand in my application and suggested a hotel where to spend the night. i took her up on the suggestion, turned in all the documents, and did not think about the train ride again, until yesterday when i found myself sitting at a dinner table next to this very same couple.
lovro and i ended up on the same panel at the conference i was attending. i thought he looked familiar but i couldnt think why. then after the conference we went for lunch with a group of others. his girlfriend dora came to join us, and it was then, when i saw the two of them that i remembered the couple from zagreb station 4.5 years ago. i asked them if they had spent new years in zagreb then....and then dora remembered me from the train. it was really odd.
the world is indeed small, frighteningly so