Public Transportation Week One

After only a week I have had some very interesting experiences. These experiences could happen to anyone anywhere in the worlds, just happened to me here. (So don't judge Syndey).

Sunday May 22 - Night time/early morning monday

• The house next door to us was almost broken into. The only thing that they managed to take was a broken bike. The guy next door told us that he has lived here for 5 years and has never heard of any problems like this in this area... that's good to know!

Tuesday May 24 - First day of work

• I wanted to make sure I didn't get lost on my first day of work so I decided to take the early train. This went I had to take the really early bus.
• The bus stop is only about a 5 minute walk from the house. I got to the bus stop 10 minutes before the bus arrived (I was really excited to go to work).
• A few minutes after I sit down on the bench I was joined by a man that at first seemed normal. He started talking to me and I couldn't understand a thing he was saying! I felt bad and blamed it on the traffic. Then I started to understand him, here's the conversation.

Him: "Do you wanna have a smoke?"
Me: "No thanks."
Him: "Okay"
Me: "Are you waiting for the bus?"
Him: "No I just wanted to sit by you?"
Me: "uh.." (Thinking: Oh My Goodness!)
Him: "Wanna smoke some crack?"
Me: "What?" (Not sure I heard him correctly)
Him: "Wanna smoke some crack?"
Me: "No, I don't smoke at all."
Him: "Okay.... you wanna take the day off?"
Me: "No I want to go to work"
Him: "Just skip work"
Me: "It's my first official day so I shouldn't"
Him: "Just say you're in the hospital and can't make it" (<-- creepy)
Me: "No it's okay I really want to go to work"
.... Long Pause.....
Him: "You wanna start smoking crack?"
Me: "No"
... Someone else finally showed up and there was another long pause....
Him: "Hey do you want some chocolate?"
Me: "No, I'm good"
Him: "Alright"... and he left



Wednesday May 25

• A boy got stabbed at a train station that I don't go near. Still it happened at a train station. It was apparently gang related. The boy died and a 22 year old man was charged.

Thursday May 26

• Went home later than usual because a few people went out to the pub after work.
• On the train there were really drunk kids on their way to a party. One kept talking about all the times he has been drunk and driving. He bragged about all the times he didn't get caught but the next day he had to go to court because he was caught drinking and driving on a suspended license ... he's only 21 yrs old.
• I moved away so I could talk to Terry on the phone. I moved to sit by the doors so the seat across from me was open. I started playing Sudoku minding my own business.
• This guy walks in and sits down in the open seat across from me. He looked a little suspicious, but I didn't want to judge. Then he started singing and humming to himself. I started to smell something really bad and realized it was him. A lady walked off the train and he waited until she was far away to start yelling at her something about having a nice life but not for long....
• I just kept telling myself to not look up and keep playing sudoku. Eventually I worked up the courage to get up and go into the next carriage away from him...
• Also around the same time I was on the train there was another fight at a train station near where the other kid was stabbed.... great! At least it was still not near me.

Saturday May 28

• Relevant info: There's a lot of 'bludgers' in the city (A bludger is a lazy person that benefits from other people). In the city there are a lot of bludgers that beg for money even though they get money from the government... some pretend to be homeless... and some really are insane)
• My friend Amanda has been studying abroad in Adelaide and came to Sydney to visit me Friday and Saturday. Saturday we spent the morning and afternoon walking around the city.
• At 2:20pm I said farewell to Amanda and got on the 470 bus to go home. I notices a woman outside the bus just sitting and smoking and would turn her head like she was having a conversation with herself. It just got me thinking about how people end up on the streets ... well I thought too soon because all of the sudden I feel someone sit next to me (there were at least 8 other seats open).
• A lady sat next to me yelling something about a psychiatrist and waits for me to answer. I just look and shake my head (probably looking like a deer in headlights).
• She continues to yell "They think I'm crazy, they say I need a psychiatrist. I don't need a psychiatrist, I'm not crazy, I don't need a psychiatrist. I'm not crazy they think I'm crazy, I don't need a psychiatrist."
• I am just sitting there staring out the window with my heart beating really fast trying to figure out what to do. She kept getting closer to me so I would have to turn to face her gold tooth and crazy grey hair to nod my head to get her to back away.
• I got off at the next stop... walked quickly into the shopping center and called Hailey to tell her what happened.
• The next bus stop wasn't much better with a guy that wouldn't stop staring at me so I decided to walk. I pretty much walked from Town Hall to Central.
• I waited at Central for 30 minutes and the 470 still hadn't arrived, so I decide to take the 431 which said Glebe Pt Rd, which I knew was near Forest Lodge.
• Eventually I noticed everyone else had gotten off the bus and the driver started turning around to go back down it route. I ask the driver how to get to Forest Lodge and he told me that I needed the 470 or 433 (oh 433 not 431).
• He drove me to an intersection and told me which street to walk down and said I'd eventually get to Forest Lodge and is wasn't that far to walk.... So I walk down this street that went down hill for a while but then had a steep up hill. I tried to ring Hailey and couldn't reach her because she thought a shower was more important than talking to me (:P just kidding)
• I started getting worried because I had been walking a while so I ring Hailey and just say "I'm lost". She looked up my location on Google Maps and after a while we figured out which way I needed to talk (after I walked around the busy intersections looking lost... oh wait... I was lost).
• Finally we realized I was only a few blocks away and I finally made it home safely around 3:30pm... It took me an hour to get home which usually only takes about 10 minutes.

Monday May 30
Train

• The train to and from work was fine today, pretty quite. On my way home there were two girls from the US that say in front of me. I would have said hi but I've learned to not talk to anyone on public transportation. One of the girls had a Indiana Wesleyan water bottle... it's a small world.

Bus

• There was a girl with her head in her hand and the guy next to her was eating and laughing. He tried to help her making sure her head didn't hit the seat in front of her (after she already did that twice). All of the sudden she sat up straight and turned to the guy and said "I need to throw up", guy said "now?", girls said "mmhmm"....
• Luckily the guy had a plastic bag full of food, he took the food out and gave her the bag and sure enough she threw up. As soon as the bus stopped they got off and not even one step off the bus she started throwing up some more with the guy just standing there laughing at her.