The “Little” Things Do Matter

You know how memories can get a bit fuzzy if they have been left in the head too long, I don’t really know why but I feel the need to immortalise the memories I’m about to share with you, they serve the purpose of reminding me that even something that may seem small and insignificant can make an impact.

There was a time when I was but a young and bright-eyed girl (actually it’s only a year or so ago, hah!), who only just got to UK. I remember one of the first social gatherings I went to that had actual British people there, and not just international students, was a church newcomers meal that I went to with my friend. So one Sunday after church, she and I navigated our way to Jam Cafe, this little cafe in a quirky part of the city, and we were so early that there were only two people there and they were the ones welcoming people.

So the first guy at the door said hi to us and introduced himself, so we said hi and said our names too. Now, the reaction I get here quite a lot when I say my name is Wen Qi, is people just hear it as Wendy and call me Wendy, which is what happened then. However, to my genuine surprise, the guy standing next to the first guy actually corrected his friend and said that my name was Wen Qi. I know this probably doesn’t sound like a very big deal to most people but it’s one of the things that I remember, being new to a strange and foreign land and having a foreign sounding name that isn’t exactly easy to pronounce or remember.

Oh speaking of which, I now remember another tale relating to the pronouncing of my name. There was once when we had some friends studying medicine where there seems to be a tradition in which every year, the 4th year students would put on a musical, and we were invited to go see their performance. So, I bought tickets for my housemates and I and when we went to collect the tickets, the old British man sitting in the ticketing booth checked my booking. He read out my full name, and then ever-so-politely and smilingly asked if he pronounced it correct, assuming that he had not. And you know what, he actually did! Well I wouldn’t say it was a huge “make me day” incident, but it was pretty memorable to me.

Well, another memory that I have of a small yet significant event was this… My friends and I were waiting for the bus in the city when this African woman came up to us and asked us if we had any change, because the bus we were taking is fussy like that and just doesn’t provide change when buying tickets. So we dug around and to my surprise I actually had change for a pound, which is very rare as I don’t carry much cash around with me in UK, we just use our debit cards most of the time if we can. Anyway, I exchanged my spare coins for her one pound coin and then the bus came.

I think it may be two weeks or so later, in church one day, I was just sitting when the woman next to me said to me, “You’re the person at the bus stop that day weren’t you? So you go to this church too”, and smiled at me (Disclaimer: Memory seriously fuzzy but I think that was the gist of what she said). Well in the midst of all that was going on during the earlier part of the church service, the noise and all, it didn’t immediately register with me what she said, so I just smiled back her and did that “Oh yeaahh-nodding head-trying to process” thing. But when it did, the moment was over and the sermon was about to begin, and yea we didn’t get to talk after that either. And actually, now I can’t even really remember how she looks like. But it just struck me how something that small made her remember and even recognise me quite some time after what had happened, and that even small things can make an impact somehow, which seems pretty cool to me.

So who knows really how what we do may make an impact in someone else’s life in some way, some food for thought. Heh, speaking of which, food post may or may not resume in the next post, this is very much not a food post, that I am aware of.

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