A Funny Thing Happened on the Way Home From the Baklavaci...

Many nights I finish work late. Classes finish at 10 p.m. and then I
walk home. Of course, in Spain, 10 p.m. wasn't late, but Istanbul is
kinda normal in that respect. My way home is very safe, well-populated
and well-lit, so don't worry mom! About 75% of the walk is through a
pedestrian street with lots of shops and restaurants at closing time.
Along the same street is a baklavaci, a dessert shop (And again mom,
don't worry, I'm not pigging out on baklava either). This place also
sells "chee kofte" which is a Turkish specialty that a lot of
unsuspecting foreigners have tried (and enjoyed) before finding out
that it is actually raw meat ground finely and heavily seasoned, then
shaped by hand into little lumpy things roughly the size of a large
meatball but then squeezed in the hand so that it is elongated and has
the imprints of the fingers in it... kinda bizarre. More bizarre is
the fact that it is often sold in the same place as desserts and
sweets... raw meat and baklava please!
So anyway, the baklava place is one of the few places in the street
that is not closing up when I pass at about 10:20. As a result, the
guys who work there are usually hanging out watching people go by, me
included. So over the past few weeks they've invited me in a few times
for tea and chat. This is not out of the ordinary, in fact it's a
normal turkish thing.
Last night I was walking by and decided to get some tulumba for my
flatmate and I. I was in the shop chatting with the guy, and he was
asking about what I do. He is kinda new so didn't know all the
details. So I told him I'm an English teacher and he asked me if I
know Ryan. There's no Ryan at Interlang so I asked him where Ryan
teachers. He points out the window in the direction of an English
school that was about a block away. As he points and I look, a guy
walks past the window. The baklava guy says "Hey! Ryan!" and invites
him in. Coincidentally, the very second that baklava guy was asking me
if i know this guy (whom I didn't know), the very same guy walked by
the shop! Baklava guy bustles us in, hands us little pieces of
complimentary baklava, bustles us to one of the 2 tables in the place
(it's tiny) and sits us down to chat with each other while he went to
serve customers that had just come in. It was hilarious! We were like
"I guess we're supposed to meet and make conversation now!" Ryan from
Toronto, and his friend Dallas, who is visiting from Montreal were
really nice. Dallas went to McGill - how cool is that :o) She's
thinking of coming here in September to teach.
As it turns out, Ryan and I live about 5 or 6 buildings away from each
other! We exchanged phone numbers and plan to keep in touch.
What's really funny, is that I just told Josh and Kris this story in
the staff room and when I said that the baklava guy asked if I know
Ryan, Kris said, I know Ryan. It turns out him and Dallas have visited
Kris's flat, because Ryan's a good friend of Kris's flatmate.
Geesh. Small world!