Dinner with a stranger

“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”

Population of New Zealand: 4,405,200 (2011)

Population of Sydney: 4,504,469 (2010)

There are as many people in Sydney as there are in the whole of New Zealand. With so many people in one city, who knows who you'll meet.

Today was strange. 

I was out in the city after my classes today to buy some groceries. After cleaning out the kitchen (it was a huge mess, blog about that later), I thought it was time to start cooking my meals again instead of eating instant noodles every night.

I walked to QVB to buy my favourite cupcakes. Mmmm, red velvet <3

Not long after I bought my cupcakes, I was stopped by a complete stranger.

Stranger: "Hey!"
Me: *turns around* "Hi?"
Stranger: "Hi, my name is D. *holds out hand to shake* I was just walking past and thought you were adorable so I thought I'd say hi."
Me: "Oh thanks...." *awkward smile that obviously shows I am uncomfortable*



I started to slowly inch away because I thought he was going to try sell me something, or make me think about the purpose of life. This isn't the first time I've been stopped by a random with a compliment. Smart marketing technique; to compliment someone and then convince them to sign your petition for UNICEF.

But no, he was just trying to talk to me. We then had a short five minute conversation about all the generic stuff. He asked me about uni, and what I was taking. He asked me about my ethnical background and where I went to high school. I answered accordingly, but you could tell I was getting restless and uncomfortable so he asked me if I was taking the train to get home.
Me, wanting to just leave, said 'yes' even though I don't take the train. 
Much to my horror, he said "I'll walk you there." 

Next thing I knew, he dragged me to dinner with him.

It was completely random. As we were walking towards the train station, he told me to have coffee with him. "Ten minutes is all it'll take. Spare 10 minutes of your time to have coffee with a stranger." I tried to get out of it by saying that I really had to get home, but he told me to be a bit more "adventurous; spontaneous moments are the ones worth remembering." 

To be honest, I had nothing better to do. I was probably going to head home and just clean my room. And I'd much rather not. This guy didn't seem dangerous, and its not like he would hurt me in such a crowded place. So, why not?

You can find out a lot about a person in just an hour.
He is eight years older than me. He works at an insane asylum, and deals with patients that are ex-convicts. He went to UNSW, and majored in philosophy and then did a postgrad degree in nursing. His parents divorced when he was three, and he is an only child. He is Buddhist, and vegan. He doesn't eat any dairy products or meat products. He can't even eat cake or ice cream.
He finds that people who do Actuarial or Accounting as a career are the most boring people ever. He's bad at maths, but likes to read. He carries around an e-reader with him everywhere he goes.
He says his 'TH's' as 'F's', which became super obvious when he said the number 'free'.
His Cantonese is pretty heavily accented, as he grew up in Wollongong NSW. He told me his mum thought he had a "鬼佬性格” and that "佢唔怕醜“。

I feel like I have to add, I am in no way attracted to him. I was merely having dinner with a stranger. A stranger whom I don't even know the last name of. And during the whole time, I didn't feel threatened, I didn't feel like he was trying to hit on me (although I am quite oblivious to this I've realised).
Its nice to know that there are people out there who just genuinely want to meet new people.

Ever since we were young, we have been taught to not talk to strangers. But sometimes, it doesn't hurt.
He was probably going through a quarter-life crisis, and felt the need to meet people randomly on the streets. But I think its sort of cool. 

D: "You're very shy, you're just smiling and answering my questions."
Me: "That's because that was completely out of the blue! I don't even remember your name."
D: "My name is D, remember that. You need to learn to embrace the unexpected."

This experience has made me realise, I am 18 years young, in a country by myself, and I really haven't done anything spontaneous or remotely interesting. I haven't done anything rebellious, or wildly crazy.

I remember Farbod telling me that I lack social skills. Which, now that I think about it, is quite true. I have always had my circle of friends, and its never been hard to meet new people with them. I am not one of those people who can strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to me on the bus, I can't just stop someone in the middle of the road and tell them their shoes are nice.

I am such a boring person. Maybe I should change that.

”I feel very adventurous. There are so many doors to be opened, and I’m not afraid to look behind them.”