Archive for On the Train / Bus
January 11, 2008 at 11:01 am · Filed under On the Train / Bus, Reflection
I guess one reason for writing is that it makes you take note of things that make each day different. Maybe only with the motivation to write about them but ultimately, the meaning lasts longer than the motivation.
My special event of yesterday:
On the way home from UBC at night I transferred to the number 7. Walking to the back of the bus I took a second glance at a woman sitting to the right and realized that I knew her. I continued on taking two steps further, then had second thoughts and turned back around to say hello.
I had worked with this woman at a coffee house in Regina for a short time. Then after I moved here I ran into her within the first few months. Her daughter was living here and she was visiting and I think, planning on moving to Vancouver. I continued to run into her in Vancouver, Regina, and flights in between.
I had forgotten about her after moving to Japan. I think I forgot about a lot of things. But then a few months ago, I was standing on Dunbar, waiting for the 25, and the 7 drove by. I was pretty sure that I saw her in the window.
Last night, I almost let it go. So that I could relax in my tiredness after karate practice, so that I could sit alone and have space around me to hold my drenched umbrella, so that I could eat my blackberry twizzlator in peace. (Is that the right spelling? I tried to Google twizzlator but with no results except now the word twizzler is nails on chalkboard.) But really, how could I when, here is a person that it seems I am meant to run into at all unexpected times.
We exchanged some life stories in the five minutes before my stop. Four blocks to go and I was scribbling my email address onto a notebook page so that maybe one day we can meet but not by accident.
I got off the bus and I felt really happy.
Maybe it is just coincidence that we always run into each other. Maybe there is a reason that I am yet to find out. Either way, it makes me happy to see this person and that was something I almost gave up because I was seeking my natural comforts. On the bus – being alone and having space.
It made me think about what we, what I give up just to be comfortable.
October 25, 2007 at 10:42 pm · Filed under On the Train / Bus, Thinking
girl on mobile: “…and she forgot to get a morning after piiilll…but, like, keep it low…”
…
…
Just a reminder to myself of the weird ways in which we reveal private information to strangers.
I also think about how sometimes we say things like this within earshot of strangers because we are really itching to say it to a lot of people but know not to blab in a close circle of friends. Well, except to that one person on the other line.
April 3, 2007 at 2:29 pm · Filed under On the Train / Bus
Took advantage of my UPass & free transportation today and got reaquainted with Vancouver city buses. Noticed all the little differences from bus rides in Japan. The seats on the #25 were uber cushy, I didn’t need to holding onto my UPass after boarding, I pulled a buzzer to stop – did not have to press a button, I had to mobile, the bus floors were dustier and dirtier and:
I learned about the people around me by overhearing their conversation.
This one guy is going to write a letter to his landlord about the landlord’s respect for his privacy. One girl that these other girls know name throws too much. Anytime you talk to her she has to mention “John” or “Mark” or whoever – even if you don’t know them. She can’t be like the rest of us and vaguely refer to the person as “a friend”. Don’t mix apple juice and milk it is not tasty. And so on…
March 19, 2007 at 10:36 am · Filed under On the Train / Bus
I almost boarded one the other day but decided not to. I don’t feel comfortable with the pink signs and the flowers. The gesture is nice, but I feel like accepting it is saying “I don’t want to be around men” when that is far from the truth. Of course I support their existence. They provide a safe place for the many women who have been put in unnecessarily uncomfortable situations on the train. But I don’t mind the regular cars.
Then Friday night in Shibuya station I walked into a car headed to Yokohama and as the doors closed I looked around, “wait a minute…” Sure enough there were pink signs, a woman to man ratio I have only encountered at onsens and the air had a slightly more fruity aroma. It was a strange atmosphere. The car was completely quiet yet there seemed to be a certain tension among all the women. Like we all knew that we took a step past mixed and equality into a “no men allowed” zone. Or maybe it was just me who felt that and I wondered if others did too.
I asked myself what kind of statement I was making. But I wasn’t making one – I came here by accident! Stopping at stations along the way I watched the men waiting on the platform as the train crept forward. The train walls and windows seemed miles thick. “I’m here by accident!”, I wanted to say but then really…it didn’t matter. I became curious – how did they see this car?
Further along the way I starting feeling out of place. I’ve possibly written about it before but if not – a quick introduction to my complex: I was a big, tall kid and the girls I grew up with were small and in dance classes. I felt out of place and thought that girls should be that size – not my size. So that was 20 years ago and I’ve grown up since then and so have those tiny girls and for the most part, I have gotten over the idea that women must be small. But sometimes…sometimes it comes back in form of a disconnection I feel from groups of women. Especially when you are in Japan and some of the women cast glances because…well gee I would look at me too if I were from here seeing someone who looks like me from let’s guess where. Anyway back to the point, I felt out of place – like the car was for a class of women that I did not belong to.
Then, snapping me away from stirring my bowl of self-dough, I saw the most amusing thing. An obviously foreign man standing in the middle of the women only car. I watched him for a few moments, wondering if he felt uncomfortable. Did not appear to be. I was happy that he was there. It was an amusing contrast. And I feel bad saying it because the cause of the women’s only cars is important considering the assaults that many women have had to experience but, I was sort of happy that pink signs were not a total wall between me and the other half of humans.
December 6, 2006 at 6:08 pm · Filed under On the Train / Bus
Thoughts on train this morning:
- train cars are spooky when the lights are off (an out of service train went by while I was waiting for the one I am one now).
- a few days ago the amount of perma-frowning people hit me. Since then I have been making an effort to smile even when I am sleeping. Need to work these muscles but will people think I look nutty?
- there is a 70-something-year-old woman sitting across from me and I am envious of her shoes – blue and red reebox with a large red flap over the front
- people count on their fingers to themselves. Often looking up at the train ceiling. What are they counting, remembering, what do they have to do?
- the 70-something-year-old’s friend is sitting next to me and peering at my mobile as I take note of these thoughts. Can she read what I am writing? Did she catch me glancing at her friend’s shoes with hungry eyes though I’d never steal them as they are likely half my size.
Next entries »
