Intercontinental Friendship Project
When I finished University in 2003, I hopped a plane to Scotland and got a job serving at a hotel in the town of Peebles. It was one of those unforgettable experiences (now if only I could remember…). Most of the staff was foreign and I became good friends with people from around the world.
One of those people was a South African named Andre. When I came back home to Canada in early 2004, we made the same doomed promise that most people in our situation make: to get together again.
It’s a nice gesture to say and there’s no doubt we meant it at the time. But as is often the case, life gets in the way – especially when the distance is so great (Canada to South Africa). I always held out hope that it wasn’t a well-meaning comment and we would see each other again.
And then, out of the blue last night, I got a facebook message from him. On September 10, he is actually coming to North America. He’ll be in New York City for about a week. Now, that’s no where near my neck of the woods but he’s actually coming up to the Northern Hemisphere and across a freaking ocean!
The only problem? I don’t have enough money to make the trip.
To raise enough money, I am offering to rent out my time in New York to you.
- For $1 I’ll high-five a New York stranger for you.
- For $3 I’ll tell your favourite joke to a New York stranger.
- For $5 I’ll mail you something from the streets of NYC.
- For $5 I’ll also give you one of my NYC memories, personalized for you.
- For $20 I’ll write a poem for you, about you and recite it in Times Square.
- For $100 I’ll cut my hair into a mullet and wear it around NYC for the entire weekend.
Everything will be videotaped and photographed so you’ll be able to see which New Yorker heard your joke, got your high-five and heard the poem I wrote about you.
I’m going to travel as cheaply as possible. I plan to Couch Surf, fly Economy and will probably even pack my own meals for the few days I’ll be there. The only luxury will be a few drinks & dinner with Andre, which is the whole reason for this nonsense anyways.
Any surplus will go to the Terry Fox Foundation to fight cancer. So basically, every dollar given to this project will go to a good cause: friendship or the cancer fight.
The clock is ticking; I only have 2 weeks to raise the money. So please, in the name of friendship and keeping promises, send me a few bucks, your names for high-fives, jokes, addresses for souvenirs or whatever else I’ll need to keep up my end of the bargain.
Let’s do this in the name of transcontinental friendship & keeping promises. You can see the entire project and buy whatever you want at my website.
September 1st, 2011 at 10:06 AM
Vaughn says:
This may be the weirdest post yet, haha. Some of these seem pretty tempting… let me think about it.
September 5th, 2011 at 9:33 PM
Vaughn says:
Update: Quentin was featured as a front page story in the Medicine Hat News on August 31st:
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/front-page-news/you-can-help-hatter-reunite-with-old-friend-09012011.html
September 6th, 2011 at 10:31 AM
Sean says:
While I think this is neat and reuniting with long lost friends is cool idea, I do have a concern with the options offered for donations based on my experience going to New York City last summer…
When I was in Time Square, I saw quite a few weird things, including a family walking a goat on a crowded sidewalk. Additionally, lots of people run around offering you flyers, discounted ticket prices to shows, merchandise, etc., so a poem might not get much attention. Nothing catches your eye more in Time Square than the Naked Cowboy or the Tin Man stabbing someone with a screw driver. Finding the Naked Cowboy and having him play his guitar to you reciting the note and capturing it on video would be cool.
– The Naked Cowboy
– The Tin Man
As New York City is the mecca of the modern world, there’s people from many different nationalities, so many different hair styles. How would you stand out? Maybe get a hair cut and stand in front of something extremely popular and well known that most people can identify with, such as an Andy Warhol painting?
– Cambell’s Soup Cans by Andy Warhol
– Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh
As a side note, you can take photos at the Museum of Modern Art, but not other places such as The Frick Collection (which has many cooler paintings than MOMA.)
Also not to be nitpicky, but “intercontinental” by definition means “between or among continents; involving two or more continents: intercontinental trade.” As Canada and The United States occupy the same continent, it should maybe be International?
September 8th, 2011 at 10:04 AM
Vaughn says:
Sean, I think you missed the part where he mentioned his friend is from Africa (twice).
September 8th, 2011 at 1:06 PM
Sean says:
I said reuniting with friends is a cool idea? I’m just trying to say that the incentive for donation could be made a little more unique ish.
September 9th, 2011 at 8:34 AM
Quentin says:
Haha, thanks Sean but I think you’re reading too much into all this. It’s Intercontinental because Andre is from South Africa. That’s splitting hairs though …
I could’ve gone way over the top with what I offered but I’m not into Steve-O. I wanted to put a bit of charm into the thing (poetry & memories) instead of acting 100% stupid.
It’s just a goofy, fun way for me to take advantage of how close he’ll be and go see him. It worked too – I bought my ticket last night 😀
Thanks again.
Peace,
Quentin
September 10th, 2011 at 5:09 PM
Vaughn says:
It looks like you made quite a bit of money! Great marketing work 🙂 Now, you have your work cut out of you, haha.