A random conversation with a handsome stranger.

My friend and I were the only people in a coffee place at Rouse Hill when a man walked in and sat across from the both of us on my left. As we were conversing on anything and everything (as friends do) in my peripheral vision I could see that we were being observed by the stranger across from us. I could sense that he wanted to particpate in our conversation. I had to shake the feeling that someone was eavesdropping. While pretending to read the paper he noticed that the both of us were laughing. All of a sudden, this young man approached us and asked,

"Excuse me ladies, I was wondering if you were both Indonesian?"

I laughed and told him that we were Filipino and without hesitation, he grabbed his chair and without even asking if he could join us, sat himself  between my friend and I.

"I thought you could have been Filipino" he said looking at me. He then looked over to my friend on his left and said, "but I definitely thought you were Indonesian".

With a bright smile he started talking to us about his trip to Indonesia the year before. He had lived in the southern part for 3 months and he loved the people and the culture. He sighed and said, "I wish I were younger though, I'd travel to more places in South East Asia. Vietnam will be my next stop". He asked what the Philippines was like and I told him the best places to vist and what to watch out for in a country infused with various cultures. It was interesting that he actually knew a lot about South East Asia. I asked him why he was so keen on South East Asia and with a smile he said,

"Because it's the complete opposite to Australia. I have lived in Windsor all of my life and grew up in a predominantly 'Anglo- Australian' town. I never really got to mix with any other race except for Australians or Lebanese since I'm a mixture of both. I love that they built this new complex, I see so many different people from different cultures it's great. I know that Sydney is multicultural but I never got to really experience it till now."

I still find it funny that pockets of suburbs in Sydney are not multicultural. Just like me, this stranger had observed that while Australia promotes itself as being a multicultural country, it was very much far from the truth. While Sydney and Melbourne (2 of the largest cities in Australia) are quite multicultural, most of Australia isn't.  I grew up in the inner suburbs near the city and then moved to the western suburbs so I grew up in a multicultural environment. But this is not experienced by most Australians (like this stranger who grew up in a small Sydney suburb).

So this very handsome man spoke to us for an hour discussing his travels and we debated about politics and our perceptions of other cultures. He told us about his life and his work and his relationships. My friend and I had been in the coffee shop for longer than we had anticipated and I had instinctively grabbed my keys from my bag. Sensing that we had to leave, the man smiled and stood up. He nodded and with sincerity he said,

"Thank you for the lovely chat, I really hope to bump into you here again sometime."

We stood up, said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways.

As my friend and I chatted about what had happened in the coffee shop, I stopped and realised that we had not introduced ourselves. We didn't know his name and he didn't know ours.

In the end I thought that it was really nice to talk to someone new. It was nice that we didn't know his name and that he didn't know ours. It was interesting that we knew a lot about a person whose name we didn't know. I don't think I could ever have the confidence to seat myself between two complete strangers and talk about anything. Eric always makes fun of the fact that I am so terrible at small talk.

And while I enjoyed spending time with my lovely friend, it was wonderful to have a random conversation with a handsome stranger.