Bus Stop Frustration

Well, I'm sorry to say that I'm having my second bad day in China, not a bad record, given that I've been here almost three weeks. I'm supposed to be at school right now, teaching a short class to make up for the one we missed yesterday because of the May Day holiday. I got to the bus stop just about two full hours before my class was scheduled to begin, but the bus never came. At 3:30, one hour before class, I called the department secretary to ask her to tell the students I'd be late and to please wait. At that point, I thought the bus would be there at any minute. Forty-five minutes later, after trying and failing to get a taxi driver to understand where I wanted to go, and after realizing that even if the bus came, I'd be nearly an hour late for what was going to be an hour and a half long class, I called the secretary back and asked her to cancel for me. She told me they'd wait, but what if the bus never came? Better to cancel, right? I am just so frustrated. I'd been looking forward to class all day long. I really wanted to teach today.

Neither the secretary nor the colleague I called next seemed especially surprised that the bus hadn't come in the long stretch of time I waited, so I guess this isn't unusual. They didn't think it was a big deal that I'd canceled, either. I'll tell you what. I'm going to get one of my Chinese friends to write me a note to tell some future cabby to take me to campus. I'm kicking myself for not doing that sooner. I'm hoping that Chinese students are just like American students in this situation. I hope they heard the news that class was canceled and did a little happy dance in the hallway on their way out.

Oh, did I mention that on the way to the bus stop, a bird crapped on my face? Great day. Somebody drink a good stiff gin and tonic for me, would you?


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