It's a small world after all
Tourist makes friends with a Yellowknife family
through complete coincidence
Joseph Tunney
Northern News Services
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife family and a visitor from Toronto learned it's a small world last week.
Left. Jordan Silke and Emily Tsui, who due to the small-world nature of Yellowknife, recently became friends. - Joseph Tunney/NNSL Photo |
"I love small towns," said Emily Tsui, who came to Yellowknife two weeks ago to go camping.
In university she wrote her thesis about the North and decided to come up to see it for herself.
Arriving on June 17, Tsui stopped by the Northern Frontier Visitors Centre to rent a bike.
There, she met Jordan Silke, who works at the centre. When she returned the bike later, the two exchanged numbers and planned to meet up the next day to go canoeing.
Being new to the city and learning it was near solstice, she went to take some photos of the midnight sun by city hall.
Not knowing anyone, she struck up conversation with an older couple she thought were also tourists taking photos of the sun late at night.
"I was like, 'I need to meet people in this town, I don't know what to do,'" Tsui said.
After she learned they were actually Yellowknife locals they talked for almost an hour about a variety of things, including the couple's five children.
Tsui said she remembered Jordan had said he had four siblings but didn't make the connection.
Then, the woman, named Sarah Silke, mentioned she had a son named Jordan who worked at the visitors centre.
"I was like, 'Oh, I met him,'" Tsui said.
Learning the small connection the parents decided to befriend her and take her on a tour of the city.
She ended up at the Silke's house at 1 a.m. and she texted him about how nice his parents are.
She even took a picture of his dog to give Jordan a little scare, but the photo didn't go through.
"She just tried to creep me out," Jordan said.
Since then, the Silkes and Tsui have become close, with her even coming over for dinner one night.
Although Tsui left Yellowknife yesterday, Sarah said she hopes the family stays in contact with her.
"She's a lovely girl," Sarah said.
Sarah, being from Ottawa, said she knows what it's like to go to a small town and not know anybody.
She said that's part of the reason she and her husband decided to befriend Tsui.
"If my kid was somewhere in the middle of nowhere by themselves I'd like someone else to be kind to them," she said.
