Shanghai!! (Part 4)

Woke up the next day, feeling strong and ready to go once more…but sadly this time I wasn’t ready to go but ready to go…home. L

So once more we had a delicious breakfast with some hot tea, and the family saw us off as the driver drove away to the train station.

Once we got to the train station, we once more had trouble following the interesting arrows, but we got to where we needed to go eventually. We waited in a big room with maybe 150 to 200 other Chinese people all trying to head back west to various cities along the one train’s route. As I sat there amongst the individuals, I had a horrible feeling.

I had a horrible feeling that they were not going to call us by section, but rather they were going to call us to board the train all at once. And I had a horrible feeling that if they did that, it was going to be a literally painful experience.

They called us all at once.

My heart stopped when I heard the call and saw the mad dash.

And yes, it was LITERALLY painful. (correct use of the word literal)

We got pushed through the crowd…at one point we were no longer moving ourselves but were being carried along the way. I didn’t even have to hold my bags; they were being taken along for me. But my bags were being taken too far. I’m holding on to a bag and it’s being carried along ahead of me, and I’ve got it wrapped around my wrist, and my arm is being pulled along ahead of me. I have to call out and tell the people ahead to ease up, and I was just able to yank it back towards me…if I hadn’t done that, I might’ve twisted my arm. And everyone was trying to squeeze through maybe four or five turnstiles, many people with many bags. One girl had these HUGE HUGE bags she was trying to carry with her and decided she’d squeeze her way through everyone and tried to fit a bag almost bigger than her through the narrow turnstile. She got stuck.

One turnstile down. Three or four more to go.

Man, the train station officer got super mad and he was yelling at her and everyone around her, trying to find a way to get her unstuck. It was a really stupid decision what she did and all because she wanted to get to the train first. She could’ve just taken things a little slower and let a few people get past her and things would’ve been fine.

What we had just witnessed at the turnstiles was a very minor situation than one normally sees at Chinese train stations. The bigger the station and the closer to holidays, the worse it gets. At the time of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year), statistically you’ll see the biggest mass migration in the world. Everyone in China is leaving the big cities they work at to return home to their families. And that’s a TON OF PEOPLE. People almost got hurt during what we just went through, people DO get hurt during these migrations. People get trampled, and I believe sometimes people get killed. Everyone waits in long lines for a VERY long time to get on whatever transportation they are trying to get on: bus, train, plane, boat, etc. And they will remain in those positions, even going to the bathroom to hold those spots. And then when they are called to board, the huge mass of people running is extremely dangerous. I can’t even imagine how kids do it.

Later on, I asked Xixi (my co-teacher if you remember) about the mad rush to get on the trains. I understood why it happens on public buses…I deal with that all the time, it’s first come first serve to the seats. But why trains? Don’t you buy your tickets that have your seats/beds on them ahead of time? I know that’s what we did. But Xixi said, “No, actually what they do is sell more tickets than they have seats available, and so there are some people that will be without seats and most of them are trying to find a good place to stand. Sometimes they will try to take other people’s seats, but in that case the person just shows them their ticket and they’ll grumble but they’ll get up and move.” So I understand a little better why this happens. I still don’t like it, and I still don’t excuse it, but at least it makes more sense than people running and fighting to be first just because “that’s what you do.” I still don’t like it though, and I hope in the future they’ll come up with a better system that involves less injury. Until then, YOU BETTER BELIEVE I’M STAYING FAR AWAY FROM LONG DISTANCE PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN CHINA DURING SPRING FESTIVAL. I WILL NOT BE A PART OF THAT. In fact, I’m getting out of the country.

Right before boarding the train.

Here's a picture of the bottom bunk.

The train before everyone got on and before it got dirty (people actually spit on the ground and the carpet, because Chinese people don't believe it's healthy to keep saliva in).

We managed to get through without too much trouble (and by too much I mean that it’s all relative)…and after we got past the turnstiles it was all good. The rest of the journey was pretty peaceful and we got off the train around 12:45 at night then took a taxi home.

But…I think Shanghai may have broke me.

I changed coming back from all of that…I thought that Shanghai would be something like when contestants on Survivor get extra rewards during their time competing. They’re all skinny and malnourished and if they win a game, they get an epic prize like all kinds of barbecued meats like hot dogs, steaks, burgers, and fries and sodas and stuff…or sometimes they’ll get like a seafood smorgasbord of lobster, shrimps, crab, sushi, and salads with wine…and plenty of other things too. But after that all happens they’re all replenished and encouraged; it gives them a morale boost that’s enough to last them until the next challenge. I thought that Shanghai would do that for me.

But it didn’t. In fact, it made things worse. It all of a sudden made me see very clearly the less than ideal conditions I was living in and feel it more sharply. Before, people would say either “you’re crazy” or “you’re brave” and I would be like “meh, I guess so…to me, it is what it is.” But now, coming back to Xiangyang made me feel more strongly what everyone else was thinking. And I broke.

I started to sink into a depression.

(That’s the end of my Shanghai tale. Don’t worry, it gets better…but it gets worse before it gets better.)