Knowing Chinese Would Help.... A LOT!

Let’s be glad that my mom didn’t know about this until AFTERWARDS! Haha

Friday, I tried out for the Badminton team for school. Try-outs were after school, so afterwards I needed to take the bus home. My school has two sets of busses: Early bus, which leaves directly after our last class, and then late bus, which leave an hour after our last class. The late bus is made for afterschool tutoring, sports, or clubs. What I WASN’T aware of is that there are a different set of busses, not the usual 50 bus fleet that takes kids to and from school. Late bus has about 15 busses that make more stops but have a lot less people. Due to this, MY bus wasn’t there, so I didn’t know which bus to take to get home.

Thankfully, I thought quickly, and called my neighborhood friend, Jake, because I knew that he would know which bus to take. Unfortunately, he didn’t know the bus number, just the location of where it should be from where you walk out to the busses. He told me it was the second to last bus. He said there should be a sign on the front that indicated the stops it will make. I didn’t see my neighborhood on the list, but he said that if the sheet said ‘Golden Lough’, that it will be on the same route and I should be able to get back to our compound, Seviar. I hoped on the bus that said ‘Golden Lough’ and sat down amongst a bunch of adults. I had never seen adults on our bus, but I had never taken late bus, so I thought that maybe it was normal. After 30 minutes of riding and the bus almost empty, nothing out my window looks familiar. I start to get really worried, because there are a few busses that go as far as an hour away to take kids home. I try to call Aunt Pam, but she doesn’t answer. I call Jake and tell him that I’m not home yet, and that we are in a weird area. He figured out that I had taken the ADULT bus (explains all the adults I saw) and that I should have taken the SECOND row of busses, not the first. He then tells me to ask an adult if we have stopped at Seviar yet. I ask this Chinese lady near by, but apparently she didn’t speak English and then got up and left the bus. I asked another lady, and she said that she had never heard of Seviar. Great. Now how am I suppose to get home? I talk to Jake and he says that I need to get off the bus and take a taxi home. Luckily I have money. The problem? I know no Chinese, I have never taken a taxi alone before, and I have no card to give directions to the driver. This is just great.

It’s still raining and getting dark, and it’s freezing. I have my school uniform on, which consists of a skirt, flats, and a short sleeve shirt with a fleece jacket and a my gym bag. Fortunately the last of the people on the bus were two British ladies, whom were extremely nice and told me where to get off on the bus to catch a taxi as fast as possible. I hoped off the taxi and waved one down, just as I had seen many people do. I call Jake and he and the grumpy taxi driver babble for a while. I’m getting a little nervous, but I can’t hear what Jake is saying, but only hear the part of the conversation of the taxi driver, which is full of grunts and lots of ‘’huh?’’s. Finally he grunts what seems to be a satisfied grunt and hands me back my phone. Jake seemed confident enough that he told the taxi driver the right way to go, but informs me that he told the intersection, so I might have to walk a little bit. As long as I knew where I was, it was fine with me! I called my Aunt and got a hold of her, telling her that I would be late because I took the wrong bus. The taxi driver and I drove in silence for about 20 minutes. A little girl across the street, Sophie, 11, texted me to see where I was, and I informed her about the late bus mess-up. She was very concerned for my well-being and was good moral support for the matter, asking if I had enough money, and if the driver knew where he was going. J it was good to be able to avoid the awkward glances from the taxi driver. Hahahha!

We then stop and he grunts at me, indicating that I should pay him and get out. Uh, no way dude, this is NOT my compound, and from the looks of it, nowhere NEAR it! I call Jake and after I describe where I am, he says that I’m not far at all from our neighborhood. He tries to talk to the taxi driver, but he is impatient and rude, and tells Jake he doesn’t know how to get there. Jake told me that I needed to get out and either catch another taxi or walk a mile to Seviar. Well I went with plan ‘A’, because it’s cold and rainy and dark. I walk about one block and FINALLY realize where I am! What a relief. If our taxi driver had driven another mile, I would have been home. Well, I wasn’t going to walk another mile, so I expertly waved down another taxi and directed him with hand motion. *tap on shoulder and point straight*, ‘grunt’, *tap on shoulder and point left*, ‘nods head’, and then I’m home!

So with no Chinese I was able to get home, with the help of Jake and the moral support of Sophie! Haha I guess I owe Jake one, but let’s hope it’s not helping him with taxi drivers!!!!

The next day, Uncle Mark drilled me on my street intersection until I finally memorized it! I know can jump confidently into a cab and say ‘Xin Hou Gia, Ren I Lu’. If only I knew this BEFORE I took the wrong bus.

Tomorrow I must take the late bus tomorrow, but hopefully I will take the RIGHT one this time!