A 10 Dollar Watch and the Experiences It Brings

I bought a S$10.00 watch at Suntec city before I left for my trip to Italy. I was just hoping it would not give me any trouble, and if anything happens to it, I don't care. Things are always unexpected, this watch actually brought me some interesting experiences.

As I mentioned before, a border guard at the Swiss-Italian border town Chiasso noticed my watch during his normal inspection when I traveled from Switzerland back to Italy. So coincidentally that he has a very similar watch! He was thrilled! Walked up to me, put his hand side by side with mine and compared our watches, then he exclaimed, "the same, we have the same watch!" And he told other guards as well. It just surprised me. I didn't expect a similarly designed watch would appear here in Switzerland!

Then today, when I took the Metro home, an American guy noticed my watch, too. He asked me where I bought it, and said he liked it very much. Then we started a conversation. His name is Patterson, a missionary from Arizona. He has lived in Italy for one year, so he can speak pretty good Italian. There is one more year to go before he returns to the states. A very cheerful young chap. He also showed me some of the leaflets he had on hand and the website address of their church, which is mormon.org.

Maybe he just used the watch as a starter to strike out a conversation with me, but hey, he really brightened my day. I was quite upset as today is my last working day here in Italy and everybody has gone for holiday. Milan now is like a ghost town with few people around. Sitting in the train alone, that was kind of lonely. It was so nice to have someone to talk to, especially in a language that you can understand.

Thank you, my dear watch, for the experiences you brought me.