Observation 1
Date: Sep 16th, 2006 11:51:27 pm - Subscribe
Mood: sunny
I decided for my first observation that I would ride the public bus provided by the city. I choose this because I have never been in a situation in which I needed to ride public transportation. I had always thought of public transportation for the poor. My first step was to find the nearest bus stop. Once there I had to look at the map to find out where I was and where I needed to go. That was a little challenging because bus routes were going in every different direction. After a few minutes I found the route I wanted to take. Next task was to find out how much money it was going to cost me. Down at the bottom of the map it showed the different routes and the cost for each one. The cost was going to be $1.60 according to the map. Things were looking good and I thought to myself this is no big deal. So I sat down on the bench and waited for the bus, and waited, and waited. It seemed like hundreds of cars had driven by and still no bus. I looked down at my watch and only fifteen minutes had past since I had sat down. The little perspiration that had started was now in full stream. It must have been around 90 degrees with high humidity. Here I am in shorts, tennis shoes, and a t-shirt. I could not imagine being in a suit or dress going off to work or an interview. Finally the bus had come the moment of truth to see if I could navigate the bus system to get to my final destination. I entered the bus and proceed to give the bus driver my $2.00. She looked at me and said it was only one dollar. So I tried to hand her $1.00. She gave me a look like I was stupid, which at this point I was starting to feel that way, and pointed to an automatic dollar slot for my money. I put it in and then she asked me if I wanted a transfer ticket. I told her no not truly understanding what a transfer ticket was for. I then proceeded down the aisle looking at which seat I was going to take. I choose one near the rear so that no one was behind me. Fortunately for me the bus was air conditioned, so after a couple of minutes I started to dry up from the sweating early. The bus I was on had only 8 people on it to start with five men and three women. Of the 8 people inside two were Caucasian and the rest were Hispanic. A short while later we came to a stop and a Hispanic gentleman and two kids got on the bus. One of the kids was crying and I overheard him tell the man that he was really hungry. It was dinner time and I did not know how far they had to travel before they were home. The bus continued to go past some stops and then stop at others. I was trying to figure out how the bus driver knew when someone wanted to get off the bus. Then after a couple more individuals got off I realized that they were pulling on the wire by the window before they came to their stop. It sure beat the shouting that I had seen in the movies. As I sat there some more I looked around to see that people were strategically positioned within the bus. There was always an empty seat between them. The other things that I noticed are that no one neither looked at one another nor spoke one word. As we progressed along people got on and off the bus. I looked out the window and realized I had not a clue where I was at. Without a map to look at I wondered where I was going to get off at. Suddenly we made a stop behind the airport. For anyone who has ever been behind an airport, knows that it is not the best place to be, but here we were. This was one of the cities big transfer points where people can leave one bus for another to go into a different direction. Now the light bulb comes on in my head. So the transfer ticket the bus driver was talking about was for a stop like this. I decided that it was probably in my best interest to stay on the bus I was on and head back home, hopefully anyway. I was definitely in a rough part of town judging by all the graffiti and trash. The other part of the trip that got to me was that by this time I had become the only Caucasian in the area and man did I get some looks. The way everyone was dressed suggested to me that they work very hard and do not make a lot of money. Finally the bus started on its journey back and I got dropped off about six blocks from my house. I walked home and told my wife of my adventure. I am glad that I took the trip. At moments I felt nervous because I was out of my element. I definitely have a better understanding when Dr. Payne refers to the hidden rules. I was out of my element and of course without having someone help me I did not make it to my final destination. As people came into the bus I found myself judging them. I was also drawing up expectations of them. The unfortunate thing is that I believe most folks draw up expectations of people who ride the bus. I can see now even more, how teachers just by the first meeting of the students draw up either high or low expectations.
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