Small town.

Daejeon is Korea's fifth-largest city with a population of 1.4 million, but that doesn't mean it can't feel very small for a foreigner, as I have learned over the past few weeks. Let me try to explain it.

A while ago I met a man named Todd on my way back from Daecheon, a city two hours away from Daejeon, where I was taking a flight lesson. "What were you doing in Daecheon?" he had asked. "I was taking a flight lesson." "Oh me, too -- from Matthew Walker." "Wait a minute -- 'Matthew Walker'?" "Yeah." "Weird; me too."

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine who had left Korea came back for a visit. His name is Ron. He said he'd be staying with his friend, Todd, and gave me Todd's number so I could get in touch with him (Ron). Just out of curiosity, I checked the two Todd numbers -- the one Ron gave me and the one Todd had given me several weeks before. Yep, same Todd.

So via Todd I got in contact with Ron, who had by this time acquired an old cell phone from a friend of his to use for the week. I asked, "Who's the friend?" "Moe." "How long has he been here?" "About three years." "Oh, cool."

A few days after Ron left Korea again, I was talking to a guy at a bar who introduced me to his friend, Moe. "Wait a minute -- 'Moe'? How long have you been here?" "Three years." "Oh, so you're the Moe whose phone Ron was borrowing." "Yeah -- you know Ron?" "Yeah; weird."

That week I had met a girl named Suzanne who just started a contract here. The day after I met Moe at the bar, she told me she had bought an old cell phone off this guy named Moe. I said, "Wait a minute -- 'Moe'? How long has he been here?" "Like three years or something." "Let me see that phone." I checked the numbers, and it was the same phone.

Maybe none of that makes sense, but the point is that this place is tiny when you speak English. It's also not uncommon to run into my students, sometimes all the way across the city. It's so weird. Bainbridge has small-town competition for sure.