Gotta Get Around

Some days I relish living in a culture that is not utterly dependent on individual automobiles, but has a healthy dose of walking and public transportation.  Of course, there are days where I can't help but think, "Holy crabapples! What I wouldn't give for the convenience of just being able to drive where I need to go already.  For crying out loud!"

One such time would be when the car or bus I'm taking from my town to the city stops about halfway there, on the side of a major highway, to exchange passengers with another car or bus.

"Chinese Fire Drills" - they're for real.

Or maybe when the cars/busses are also transporting random goods that you have to awkwardly straddle while holding your own bags and such.

Wha...eggs in a bucket of sand...? I don't even know.  At least it's not a live duck with its head sticking out of a garbage bag.  This time.

Those days are coming fewer and farther in between now that I feel a bit more confident about using the subway when I venture into the city (pretty much every Saturday now).

Normally, on public transport, people here just keep to themselves.  Many take advantage of the down time and grab a quick nap while others seem to be participants in some kind of bizarre anti-staring contest - desperately avoiding eye contact with anyone and everyone at all costs.  It's kinda fun to watch.

These past couple of weeks have been a little strange for me, though.  Waiting outside the station last week, some *ahem* not-exactly-registered taxi drivers were trying to earn my business and asked where I was going.  Our conversation went a little like this:

Group of Drivers: Hey! Where ya headed?
Me: I'm just waiting for a friend, thanks.
Group: OH! She speaks Chinese! Did you hear that?! Chinese! You speak Chinese?
Me: Uh, just a little.
Group: That's great! How old are you? (I always have a strange, internal monologue to remind myself that it's culturally appropriate when I get asked this question.)
Me: Oh, um, well, I'm 28.
Group: 28! So, do you have a boyfriend then? (Same internal monologue for this question, too.)
Me: Uh, no.
Group: No boyfriend! Why not?
Me: Oh, uh...too much trouble. Yeah, that's it.  They're too much trouble.

As if that entire conversation wasn't awkward enough, at that point, they started calling random men over and filling them in on my condition, listing off the stats - 28, no boyfriend, speaks Chinese, etc, etc while turning to me and exclaiming, "Isn't he handsome?! Aren't Chinese men just so handsome?"  Thank goodness my student and her mom arrived just then and I was able to make a hasty goodbye.

I had nearly forgotten this little incident until I made it to the same spot this morning and was greeted by a couple familiar faces and the ever enthusiastic "Hello!"s.  Thankfully, any would be diatribes were cut short by a truck pulling up and unloading quite a few of these guys:

Men in uniform - always a showstopper.

I like to think their mission today was just for that very purpose, to spare me further awkward conversations with random people on the street.  Mission accomplished, fellas.  Mission accomplished.