Public services

When you live at the bottom of the society like I am living now, please choose to live in a more developed country. I am taking advantage of most of the public services right now. I take buses to work. I take metro to museums downtown (at least some recreation is free of charge, kind of!). I go to a community health clinic for vaccination and some other services. If you only see America through television or movies, you would probably have seen only wealthier people who have their family doctor, own a big house, drive a fancy car (or cars), and go on vacations overseas more than once a year. Well, the America I have seen and experienced is not just that!

Going to those public services places mentioned above, you will see more than that. Many people live on minimum wage or lower. They work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Still they cant afford to own a car. They rent a room or an apartment. They do not have insurance of any type to cover their medical expenses. They are possibly barely able to pay their bills already. When you live on food stamps, you cant care further than food and the very essentials. Before going to these places, I thought I would only see non-majority people. I was true, partly. Most of the people I see are Hispanic, Asian, and African. It however surprises me that there are a few white (non-Hispanic) people. It is also a "duh" because obviously not all white people are wealthier.

A lesson learned is that this is a cheaper America and I am living it.

I waitress!

Yes, I waitress. A Master's degree holder waits table. It is not a very proud thing to talk about but the job helps me live through these days. Even though I have more than two year experience in the food service industry, working in a school cafeteria is totally different from waiting tables in a fairly fine restaurant. That is how I get to learn new things every day. I have learned the name of the food we serve and what is in it. It sounds simple because you think that is what I eat at home. No, it is not simple. Only about 10 percent of these dishes is home style cooking, by that I mean what Vietnamese moms would cook for every day meals. The remainder I have tried or heard of in Vietnamese restaurants. There are some dishes I had no idea what was it about. Southern style cooking is different from what I am familiar with, so some names and tastes are different. And I have to learn all that. Other waiters and waitresses who are more senior than me showed me how to hold a plate, where to locate a dish in the ordering system, how to make drinks, and so on. As it is warming up, we have opened the patio area. And today I just learned the number assigned to the outside tables.

Lesson: My dear old professor who is a very disorganized over-achiever and a caring person always reminded us to be a life-long learner. He was so proud that he could learn a little computer trick I showed him. I am now happy that I learn a new thing every day. I am keeping my mind working, not academically (for now) but more vocationally. I am accumulating my life experience.

Public transportation

I went to graduate school in the Mid-West. As you may already know, people in the Mid-West drive everywhere, near or far. There is no bus or metro. Very few people walk. I know that feeling of walking alone on the street, just like walking on the highway or in a desert. So I lived more than 2 years in Missouri. The small town where I lived has no sight of any public transportation, well I am not counting Amtrak. I have been to Kansas city and St. Louis and noticed buses are not very visible on the streets.

Chicago is in the Mid-West, people would say, and it is an exception. Public transportation in Chicago is efficient as my experience. I can go to anywhere in the inner city by bus or metro or both. I walked and rode a bus to places. I didnt have to walk too far or wait too long for a bus I wanted to take, and I always had company. Oh I loved Chicago, and I still do.

When I went to visit New York City, I took the metro which was an easier and common way to get around the city. I just did not like people joining an imaginary race on the streets. I bet they have a fast-paced life in one of the busiest cities in the world. People walk very fast, almost like running. They do not look at each other in the eyes. Most of them are on the phone and carrying stuff around. I guess if I move there one day, I would be one of them. I dont blame them.

Now I just moved to Virginia where it's like a hybrid of a bigger city and my Mid-West (so-called) hometown. There are buses and metro that carry you to some places but for your convenience, you are better of having a car, even though the traffic can be terrible. It is nice that I can take buses to work and do not have to walk very far. My bus comes once in every hour. It has a schedule but never comes at the scheduled time. There is a number that you can call and check the real-time next bus coming to your bus-stop but to my experience, it always has an error rate. First time I intended to take a bus to work, I ended up walking all the way through. I was waiting for my bus. I called the number, it said I had to wait about 10 to 20 mins for the next bus. So I decided to walk to the next bus-stop because it only takes me about 5 mins to walk. I was worried that I would be late for work. Once I got to a bus stop, I waited and called. I did the same thing to several stops. And in between the two stops, I heard the bus pass by. I was standing there watching the bus missing me. I could not describe how disappointed, desperate, and humiliated I was then. Now I got to walk all the way to get the next bus I needed to take to go to work. Then I walked, and I walked. After the snow storms, the sidewalks were still covered with snow so I literally was walking in the street with cars running pass me. I was thinking what if I got run over. That thought kept me busy while I was walking. I finally got to work after almost one and a half hours. Thanks God it was a nice sunny day and people knew how to drive.

Lessons learned: check the bus schedule, call the number but still get to the bus stop 15 mins before whatever time is said. I had better wait half an hour and get on the bus than missing it and walking again. It is not fun standing in the cold and watching cars and cars passing you by though. Haizzz!Over 200 things to do with your little scout: Kidding around in Kansas CityCheap thrills in St. Louis: A guide to free and inexpensive things to do