is the sound that the occurs in the Shanghai subway just before the doors close.
I ride the subway almost every day here. I work in Pudong which is about 5 miles away from our apartment and on the days I'm not working I'm going other places. A ride on the subway costs 3RMB one way (45 cents), with a volume discount each month if you use your transit card for more than 70 RMB in charges. Normally I travel during off peak hours due to my nights and weekends work schedule, but today I got to experience the joy of riding during rush hour.
The Chinese government mandated that, since New Year's Day is on a Tuesday, if employees wanted Monday off, everyone had to work on Saturday. Saturday, therefore, turned into a normal work day. Because everyone had to work, I was not supposed to teach (all my students would be at work), so my manager told me I didn't need to arrive until 9am for a training class. This put me smack dab into the middle of rush hour as I tried to get on the train at 8:30. After watching two trains pass, too full for even Chinese people to get on, I summoned my courage and pushed my way onto the third train.
Elbows, knees, backs, bags - I was completely smashed between a pole and three people. At the next stop, even more people got on. My Chinese teacher used the following example in one class, "America has a lot of trees, China has a lot of people." I agree and I think 50% of them were on the subway with me this morning.
Q - What has been your worst experience with public transit? Today was far from the worst I've had, once in Chicago my bus driver got lost and when I was in Europe we had some fun adventures with buses too. Share your stories.
Thank you for all the Christmas wishes and a very Happy New Year. Cheers!
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8 comments:
Your story about getting crushed on the subway reminded me of how I almost had my arm ripped off at a Notre Dame pep rally in 1966. At that time, the old fieldhouse still existed near the Huddle. Each Friday evening before home football Saturdays, the marching band left Washington Hall and paraded around campus and students poured from the dorms to follow the bsnd into the field house. This was a particular frenzied night because Pat O'Brien was to appear on the mezzanine and give the famous Rockne pep talk to the faithful standing on the floor below about "winning one for the Gipper" in a reprise of his movie role. So the crowd was immense and very spirited. There was an tremendous amount of pushing and shoving on the south side entrance into the fieldhouse and I got trapped between the wall on the outside and the door to the inside. Thought I was going to leave my shoulder and arm pasted permanently to the wall as the rest of me was pushed through the door by the surging crowd behind me. Much like getting on the Shanghai subway I imagine.
ANGERS II
Greta,
One story comes to mind and it happened in, of all places, Chicago! Last summer, while visiting Chris with my two friends, Lil and Denise, we had been sightseeing down town and now needed to get home and get ready for dinner; Chris had made reservations for 7; Well, we not only got caught in the rush hour crowd, the Cubbies were in town and everyone was trying to get to Wrigley Field! We had to let at least one train go buy, but were determined to get on when the next one pulled into the station. I think I now know what a sardine feels like lying in that can!
Eleanor (Chris's Mom)
While India taught me how to push in order to get off the trains (and how wonderful it is to be tall and be able to see above short women) my worst public transportation moment happened in Honduras. The experience was on the way back from Guatemala right in the middle of having Dengue fever. Roslyn, Cedric and I were in the very back of a very crowed bus. Fortunately I had a seat, unfortunately there was burning heat emitted by a vent on the bottom of our legs. I really thought I was going to loose some flesh from that one. Not so pleasant, but also not as embarrassing as when I take the bus in Boston using dollar bills and it takes so long to flatten them out and gain acceptance from the dollar sucker that the driver shoos you along for half the price in order to speed things up! I really do love public transportation sooo much better than driving.
~Anne
When I first moved to Chicago, I was right at the end of my bus route so I was usually the last person on the bus. One day, a few blocks from my stop, the bus driver called me up to the front and started asking me for relationship advice. Apparently, she had just had a birthday and was not happy with the cheap gift that her boyfriend gave her. I sat there and listened to her complain and luckily my stop came up. Can you say awkward???
I was on the 'el'. Two trains collided. We were trapped for an hour before rescue workers could free us.
For me it was the lack of functioning public trans here in Chicago. Last winter, freezing cold and wicked windy(you all know what kind of night it was)waiting for the Clark Street bus. After 25 mins one finally showed up yet promptly broke down a block away. Thankfully there was another bus, "just behind me" said the busdriver.
20 mins later, sitting in the dark cold bus the second one shows up. We all pile on and try to get seats on the already packed bus. We really needn't have bothered since this one didn't even leave the stop before it also died. (I LOVE CTA)
Yup, a third one did show up in 10mins but over all, it took me almost 2 hours to get home when it should only have been 20mins.
But on the positive side there is nothing like the sense of comraderie one feels with 20-30 angry people who all hate CTA.
Annette
Well, I can see you're keeping this blog current your slacker. Given the recent events, I've sent out an email tribute to my most favorite Aunt and Uncle, well a couple of them anyway and I hope you get the email. If you're lucky you'll see one of my most precious photos of them and my parents, too. I hope you see it, but if you don't, please email me at the blogger address below. I've taken a Blogger and Podcasting class at a community college and have at the least started a useless and nonsensical blog for learning purposes only. You know us old farts, it takes us a little time to get hip to the cool stuff, you know. Love, semi-psuedo cousin Cody.
first...i was in greeze and i had a window seat and we were on a very very narrow road going down a mountain and going very fast (or at least too fast for me to handle) so as i watched this, everytime we took a turn, i thought we were going to go off the mountain. so i ended up hyperventilating and the bus had to stop to get me off and get some air (or should i say air from a paper bag).
second...now that i take the bus to work, i have walked half as much as riding the bus. i swear the grand bus doesn't run on days that end in "y".
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