I must be crazy

So it's not really a secret that I am interviewing for a job tomorrow.  Don't get excited, the pay is a little light, and if I'm going to move away from my sister for any length of time, I'm not going to take any job that isn't worth my while.  I shared this with the company, and they still wanted to see me, so I'm going. 

I wanted to come to China to learn Mandarin, to earn some credits and possibly set myself up to be a Mandarin teacher someday.  I have a nice life in Seattle, but I was getting bored with it, living paycheck to paycheck, craving adventure. 

Maybe I don't need so much adventure. 

Today's adventure started in Hangzhou; I left the lovely air-conditioned dorm room to walk to the bus stop.  On my way to the bus stop, I realized I forgot to change into my shoes.  Oh well, I'm not going back up four flights to my dorm to put on shoes.  I will just interview in my sandals.  Who cares. 

I got to the bus stop and waited 20 minutes in the heat under the viaduct before I realized I wanted the other direction.  So I crossed the street and checked the bus stop sign, and realized my bus wasn't stopping there. 

Screw it!  I thought, I'll take a cab!  So I flagged down a cab and pointed on my handy dandy Hangzhou for Gringos map where the train ticket office was.  The dude started taking me in the wrong direction, but insisted he was taking me to where I wanted to go.  I checked on my handy dandy Hangzhou for Gringos map and saw that there was indeed a second ticket office.  Ok.  So I paid the guy my 20 kuai and got out and looked for the ticket office. 

I didn't know how to say "ticket office."  I do now. 

I asked a bony security guard looking dude where I go to buy a train ticket; he said I could buy them there, but the trains were done for the day, I would have to take a bus.  He recommended I take the Number 3 bus to the downtown station, which is what my roommate also recommended. 

I looked around for where the 3 stopped, and after a few minutes in the sun, I thought, Screw that!  I will take a cab!  So I got into a cab and asked him to take me to the East Station, not the downtown station as two other people had recommended. 

It was around 4:30, and I remember hearing that cabbies all take their break at 4:30, but I have didn't understand, half didn't want to understand.  I asked if there was a problem with the busses, and he said no, there's no problem, and I apologized for not speaking Chinese. 

Ok, I got to the East Station and gave the cabbie my 20 kuai, and the bus station is CRAZY.  Imagine walking into a huge semi-spherical hall  There is a row of about thirty ticket windows, and above them is a giant red digital reader board, the size of two basketball courts.  I can read none of it.  There were hundreds of people waiting in line, about a dozen or so at each window. 

My strategy is to get in line, and hope that the person behind me can help me.  The person behind me has a vested interest in helping, because if he doesn't, I'll hold up the line.  The person in front of me could give a rip.  So I asked the dude behind me if this was the right way to go to Shanghai, and he looked at the giant sea of characters above me and said, yes, there's a bus to Shanghai, just go to the window. 

The lady behind the bullet-proof glass was a ticket selling machine.  She asked me where I wanted to go, and she actually looked up at me to make sure... Shanghai?  Today?  Yes, Shanghai, today.  Downtown Station or South Station?  I don't know.  52 kuai!  So she printed out a ticket and passed it through the security hole. 

I can't read my ticket.  I asked a bony uniformed security guard what I was supposed to do, he pointed at the number 26 on my ticket and pointed out the door and around the corner. 

So out the door and around the corner was a huge round waiting room full of people; there were 28 gates where people were lined up to get on their buses.  I went to gate 26 and waited in line, when I got to the lady, she said, your bus is for 5:03!  So I went and sat down. 

At this time I thought it might be a good idea to call the number the company gave me to help me with a hotel.  The lovely Carol offered to make the reservation for me, and was kind enough to text me the address in Chinese and in English.  I texted her back:  I wish you a Happy Weekend!   I bought a hot dog on a stick and ate it as I boarded the bus. 

On the bus, I sat in an empty seat, later a lady told me I was in her seat, I went to ask where the seat was printed and she quick looked at my assigned seat number and said sh'd go sit there.  Ok!  My seat was set all the way back, and it was nice to sleep a little on the bus.  There was a movie playing about a young boy who hates his mom, gets himself thrown out of the house for being a jackass, and then steals an old man's magic growth potion, which gets into his blood when he falls down and cuts his hand on the shards. 

SPOILER!  He ends up being drawn back to his family as he ages quickly from a young man to and old man, befriending his own father.  His little brother recognizes him and calls after hime Older Brother!  Older Brother!  In the end he gets really old and finally reconciles with his mother.  And stays old.  And presumably dies old, because that's the end of the movie.  I guess it's the reconciliation that counts.  No do-overs in China. 

I got to Shanghai two hours later, and it was raining.  Which is good!  No oppressive heat, but also water is falling on me.  I couldn't figure out where to get a cab, and I was getting rained on so I went down into the underground and pulled an extra shirt out of my bag and put it on.  Then I went back up to the street and tried to find a cab, which was no easy feat, as the street is fenced of so that you cannot get a cab. 

Finally, I got a cab, and showed the driver the address on my cell phone.  I don't understand his southern Chinese accent, but he pulls out a 100 kuai bill and tells me to get inside.  I ask him if it's far, and he says fine, I'll run the meter.  Apparently I had agreed to 100 kuai for the ride.  I asked him if it was far, and at a red light he pulled out a map.  It was on the other side of the map.  I sat for a minute and said, should I just take the subway? He said YES, so I said, ok, take me back to the station, I'll take the subway. 

So back to the bus station, which is connected to the South Shanghai station and the subway by a huge underground complex.  I pay the guy 25 kuai on the meter (it costs 20 kuai in Shanghai to just go around the block, seriously), and back I go, underground to find the subway. 

It takes a while to wind around, but finally I find the subway entrance and the ticket machines.  There were five machines with a couple dozen people each waiting in line, but it went by FAST.  I got the lady behind me to help, even though I really didn't need it, but just as a back up.  When I got up to the machine, I quick switched it to English, which hurt the eyes of the people who were all looking over my foreign shoulder to help me.  Bam bam bam 4 kuai and I'm done.  She told me to get off at the 7th station.  I thanked her, and repeated it, and quickly forgot. 

The subways, like the bus passes in Hangzhou, use magnetic cards.  I laid my card down on the plate, the light turned green, and I took my card and went through the turnstile.  No swiping of cards, no inserting of tickets.  I noticed some people were just laying their wallets or purses on the plate, and the reader was reading their card from inside their purses or wallets.  Why can't we have that technology in America?  Why can't we have a subway in Seattle?

Once I'm on my train, I feel better.  I love taking the subway.  It was a smooth, quiet, cool ride.  Seven stations later, I got off and luckily I still had my ticket, because the exit turnstiles wanted to read it again.  I put my ticket card on the plate, it said "please insert" so I found the insert and it kept it and let me through.  If I had had more money on the ticket, I would have just used the plate and taken my card back, but the card was done, since I only paid for a one one-way trip. 

I went up the street and tried to get a cab.  It took 20 minutes just to get a cab.  First of all, there weren't a lot of cabs.  Second, whoever gets to the cab firsts gets the cab, and I wasn't that assertive.  Finally, when I had had enough, I sailed into the street with my hand in the air and got the cab that everybody else was going to walk in front of me to get. 

The cab driver was a woman, and she took me to my hotel.  20 kuai.    My hotel room is awesome.  I went down the street to get fried beef with peppers and peanuts (not that spicy!) and some spinach poached in red vinegar.  Now it's time to go to bed. 

I just answered the phone, somebody wanted to give me a massage.  No thanks.