MY WORLD CUP QUEST: MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY

18/32 WORLD CUP TEAMS COMPLETED

ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE

Six out of ten people on this planet are from Asia. One in five people on this planet are Chinese. These numbers are hard to picture at the level of the individual. How many people do you see every day from different countries? There are around 200 countries in the world but even in this increasingly globalised world we mostly interact with people from a small group of countries, wherever we live. Numbers can be misleading. I trust that there are 85 million people living in the Democratic Republic of Congo but I've never met one. Have you?

From the outset of this quest Iceland has been on my mind. Lets compare some probabilities here. One in seven people are Indian. One in 2200 people on the planet are Icelandic. If you started asking random strangers on the street if they were Icelandic, how long would it take to break that improbable ice? Luckily I didn't have to find out. One of the reasons our world is increasingly globalised is because of the internet and all that continues to provide. I put out a few feelers on Facebook and I did find an Icelander in Bangkok as I've documented here. https://steemit.com/life/@highselfesteem/i-ve-found-1-and-a-half-icelanders

A large part of my success so far has been my ability to connect to strangers online. For all the negative press spoken about regarding social media it remains a great way to reach people who are not like you. The internet may be trending towards distilled echo chambers but things may not always be so. The internet still allows you reach places you otherwise couldn't, should you choose to. This sort of interconnectedness is really still in its infancy. By the end of the century most humans will be online. There may be 10 billion of us by then.

THE ICEMAN COMMETH

I met Stuntman at a bar half way between both of our houses. Bangkok is a sprawling city. Both he and I live easily within the city limits and yet live 16 kilometres apart. Meeting in the middle is a fair investment that usually proves fruitful for both parties. And so it was.

It turns out Stuntman is not only rare for his Icelandic heritage. He has also had an eclectic life living all over the world. He's set up driving schools in Iceland, he's been a stuntman in the US, he raced motor cars while in the U.K, he's appeared on Thai soap operas since living in Thailand and is currently writing and producing films aimed specifically at the Chinese market. He also finds time to watch Iceland play football. In recent years this has been a very enjoyable experience as Iceland continue to make it the world's highest level tournaments with very limited resources. Iceland's plucky achievements in recent years have won them a lot of supporters. This was in evidence as a Scottish fan wearing the Icelandic shirt joined us before kick off. Iceland and Nigeria played out a goalless first half before a rejigged Nigeria swept away Iceland in the second half.

OUT OF THE LIMELIGHT

During the first half I had noticed two men sitting in front of us also glued to the screen. I approached them and we chatted football. They were both from Nigeria. After a friendly conversation I asked them if I could take their photo for my blog. The man nearest to me turned to me with a big smile in a very friendly way and said "I'm afraid not". He didn't need to explain any more and I wished him well for the game. Some people are keen for exposure in Bangkok, others are not. It had been an evening of two halves.