Something for the Bus Driver

I've decided that maybe I need to change my bus route a bit. I'll explain. I don't have a car here, as most of you know. I take public transportation, which means I usually take the bus. It's no big deal, I'm used to it. If you don't know, I live in a city of 2 million people and I cannot even imagine how many buses there are in this city, but you know...after time you tend to see some of the same bus drivers around. Well, let me go back and give you a small transportation orientation. Okay, in Adana, there are blue buses and there are red buses.

The blue buses are in general not air conditioned and they're smaller and not as nice. The beauty of the red buses in summer is that they are air conditioned, but they are less frequent than the blue. So, in general you roll up your sleeves and let the warm breeze cool you off on the good old blue bus. And then--I'm not totally sure why, possibly because there are a large number of illiterate people in my city, or maybe just because there is a lot of unemployment in my city, or maybe for some reason that I have no clue about-- but there are bus helpers on all of the blue buses. It is an official job. They collect your coins and then at every stop, they get off the bus and holler (yes holler) out where the bus is going. If you look like you're unsure of where you want to go, they'll try to convince you to get on the bus and go where they're going. It's very amusing, but nice if you actually don't know where you're going (like I tend not to at moments). You can tell them where you're going and they'll help you get off at the right stop. On these blue buses, you can press a button above the door to signal your stop or you can just call out that you're getting off at the next stop or say the stop's name. That's what I generally do. Remember those key words, way back from the first month of my blogging..."Durakta!"

I'd say you're oriented to the buses now. So, the other day I was riding on a blue bus. On the small blue buses, there is a row of seats that sits facing the driver. So, I was sitting in this seat and before we got to my stop, and before I'd even had a chance to realize that I needed to be getting my things together to get up and call out my stop, mind you, the bus driver looked at me and said, "the next stop is yours, isn't it...". Well, I'm a foreigner and I do tend to stick out, but apparently people keep tabs on us a bit more than we realize!! I hadn't done anything to let him know I'd be needing to get off. I think he just purely recognized me and knew my stop was coming up. Now, let me tell you in a city of 2 million, full of hundreds of buses, this is not a service they offer to everyone...memorizing your stop and all! Despite my cover of sunglasses and poor Turkish accent, alas, my comings and goings still tend to draw a bit of attention. What do you do?! The day he veers off his route to turn down my street to drop me off, that's the day I'll worry! Until, then I just laughed at his efforts and said, yes, my stop is next.