Walking Rage

I have heard of road rage and I thought that I could empathize with the anger that people feel when a driver does something rude on the road.  Now I feel like saying to all commuters of the United States “you have no idea”.

I have not driven anywhere since we have been here.  We take cabs, the city bus, the subway, but mostly we walk.  Walking seems safe right?  Wrong.  I feel as though I need a helmet when venturing out.

I like to think of myself as a rule follower.  I don’t usually like to break rules and I find great importance in them in day to day life.  Here nobody follows traffic rules.  For instance, the light with the green man indicating that it is okay for me to walk now is not valid.  What the green man means is ‘it is okay now for you to watch out for bicyclists and scooters coming at you from all directions, best of luck crossing’  A red light for drivers means ‘You may now cross the intersection but you must honk while going through.’

They get close to me, they honk at me, they interrupt my walking pattern.

On a simple walk to the ATM I was within inches of getting hit by a van and by a scooter.  Naturally I am thinking  I am in a different country I need to get used to this…… NOT!  I am thinking that I want to do terrible things to them in their sleep, I want to shout cuss words at them, I want to kick them so they fall off of their scooters, I want to turn them in so that they spend years in a Chinese Prison. I actually said aloud to Matt one day “I want to punch their mom in the face.” This, I know is not healthy and I am trying to work through it.

Matt has found an interesting solution to his irritation.  He just goes.  He has faith that the buses, cars, scooters, and bikes will all miraculously stop for him to go by.  The thing is….. it works.  Matt does not even look at the cars directly.  He looks like a blind man unaware of the chaos surrounding him.  I, jogging behind him look like a student playing tag on the playground.  I believe that the reason Matt can do this is because the crazies see that he would leave a sizable dent in their vehicle and they would rather not have that.