Sam is a champion subway rider. He can navigate all over the city. Living in a big city, I sometimes worry that he'll get lost or we'll get separated so I often ask him to tell me the way home. I follow his directions. That way I know for sure he knows where we are and how to get home.

One time when Sam was 8, my family came to visit and wanted to go see the pandas at the zoo. I couldn't go, so I sent Sam as a guide. Sam got them on the right bus, they rode for about an hour, and then he told them the correct stop to get off. They saw the pandas and then he got them safely home.

He likes riding line 4 because it's clean and we can usually get a seat and it has a glass partition he can lean on. He hates line 2 because he says it stinks. (It is really dirty. It's the oldest one in Beijing.) He also doesn't mind line 10 but they play the same annoying commercials the whole time and he gets tired of them. But at least it's clean.

Matt and I are also becoming champion subway riders. We know which lines are busiest and when, which cars to choose where we are most likely to get a seat, which people will probably get off at the soonest stops so we can nab their seat, and, most especially, how to sleep on the subway.

It's a tradition, really, and we're just blending in. Here's Matt (below) on the ride before we got a seat.


The girl across from us.

This is a husband and wife team who made a nice sleep complement. She fell forward and he fell backward. They were to the left of the girl in the picture above.

A few stops later, the sleeping girl had gotten off and this couple got on in her same seat.


The woman sitting next to us was also asleep as was Matt. But Matt wouldn't let me put up that picture. :)

I'm not sure why everyone sleeps. My guess is that they're tired. People here work until all hours of the night. And the midday nap is a tradition here, too, as much as it is in Mexico. Of course if you're asleep you can't see anyone who would need a seat.

I'm adding a funny little public service announcement that they play on the subway. The rule is that if someone old, pregnant, or sick, or a child gets on, you should give up your seat.

I love how when the old guy walks on the bus, somehow everyone is asleep and the only people who aren't asleep are hiding behind a magazine or pretending not to see.




So China!