Mondays are usually my day off, but this week I had agreed to do some extra classes for the university out on its new campus. I was to supervise some English Internet classes, in which ideally the students follow online activities and perform basic net tasks in English. Of course, these being Chinese students we are talking about, I ended up having to constantly tell them to switch off Counterstrike, QQ, Sina, Sohu and countless Chinese music sites. I’m thinking that giving them computers with internet connections in class probably isn’t the best idea in terms of productivity.
However, that sidenote is just setting the stage for today’s Interesting Event. As I stayed out there to have lunch with some of the other teachers, I skipped the shuttle bus and took a cab back into the city instead. The new campus is about forty minutes away, so it’s a decent hike.
But it’s an even more decent hike when your cab proceeds to get clogged in a massive traffic jam. We were stationary for a good twenty minutes or so, long enough for people to start opening their doors to get out and attempt to see just what the hell was going on down the road (it’s also during moments like that when the bike lane, with its smoothly flowing traffic, starts to look mighty attractive) I never found out what had caused the block, but after what seemed like an eternity we were finally on our way.
Not for long, though, as on the next block my cab got decently scraped on the side by a passing truck. I guess the driver had lost most of his cool in the traffic jam; he just opened his door and bolted down the middle of the street after the truck! So I was left sitting in the cab, cars flying all around me, as I watched the driver run up to the truck, confront the guy, and proceed to start a shoving match/fist fight.
As the two made their way towards the cab to inspect the damage, I figured it was best if I just got the hell out of there. Although they were no longer fighting, they were still shouting like crazy and in some sort of semi-grapple, so I figured some punches could easily fly again. I gave the driver 50 RMB for his troubles and proceeded the rest of the way on foot, making me late for an appointment ( I was being brought to a primary school “English corner” by my university, which ended up being a lot more fun than I anticipated: the students played instruments, gave me nice drawings and calligraphy, and the whole thing was filmed…I got paid 200 RMB to be entertained!)
Perhaps I was due my yearly China taxi accident. Last year’s accident in Zibo was a lot worse, what with the whole front of the cab getting obliterated by a speeding Audi at a dangerous nighttime intersection. I still think it’s a miracle no one got hurt in that collision. I read here that there were 109,363 traffic accident casualties in 2002; even considering the huge population of this country, that is still a lot. I should probably start wearing seatbelts again ( not wearing one is another “When in Rome…” habit that probably isn’t so great for my health)