Taxi Drivers

The taxi drivers in Dalian are awesome! Just like trying new restaurants, every taxi ride I take is different and they can be very entertaining if you get the right driver. Sometimes I try to practice a little Chinese with them and they are almost always game and very patient with me. Sometimes neither of us can understand each other but they are just so friendly that they have big smiles on their faces anyhow. A few memorable rides--

• I had one taxi driver tell me I was his best friend in Dalian in English! He spoke the best English of any taxi driver I've ever had.
• Last week a taxi driver offered me one of his cigarettes after I got into the car. Keep in mind, a ton of men smoke here but I have only seen one woman smoking since I've been here, so that was a strange offer I think. Also, all of the cabs have a sticker on the dashboard with an X through a cigarette, so you're not supposed to smoke in the cabs anyhow. That's a joke though because all of the drivers smoke! Another teacher told me that what the cab driver will sometimes do is offer their best cigarettes to their passengers (that they like?) but smoke the cheap ones themselves. I still don't think that applies to girls though. At any rate, I did not accept the cigarette.
• One driver I had would not stop talking to me in Chinese. I told him over and over again that I didn't understand him but he just kept trying to ask me questions! He wasn't even talking slowly. Finally I just started saying a few things to him that I thought he might be asking me about, like what my occupation was and where I was from. Even when we got to my apartment and I got out of the car he rolled down the window, leaned over to the passenger side and was still trying to chat. Finally I just had to say zai jian (good bye) and walk away!
• Other drivers don't really talk to you at all. Sometimes I think this is because they don't really care about you and sometimes because they are just a little shy. With the shy ones, I can usually tell that they want to talk but are afraid to or something. Like last night, my driver waited until the very last minute before we reached my destination to ask me where I was from and what happened to my wrist. At first I couldn't understand him and he seemed embarrassed but I just got him to repeat it. Maybe I should just break the ice next time!
  
• On that note, if nothing else, my driver usually asks me what happened to my wrist by pointing at it. I had one guy ask me if I broke it when I was drunk. I didn't understand what he said but he acted it out by pretending to guzzle alcohol and then fall down. hahah
  
• On one of my first taxi rides I had no clue what I was doing but I was late for school and I had to take a taxi. It was a huge mess- I didn't even know how to say school then, so I was just saying the name of the school which is also the name of a very long road. Well, somehow he got me there and I didn't understand how the meter worked so I just threw 15 kuai at him (about $2) which was the wrong amount, it probably only should have been 8 kuai when I think about it now. He definitely could have taken advantage of the situation and just kept all the money but he really quickly threw my 5 kuai bill back at me as I was racing out of the car. I am always grateful when I find someone honest here, not because I think there are many dishonest people here but because it's just so easy sometimes to take advantage of a stupid laowei (outsider).
  
• Not all of the cab drivers are super nice though. One time this guy jolted off when I was half way in the car and I was so mad at him. I literally got thrown inside and the door slammed behind me because of the change in speed. Well, this guy wasn't going anywhere fast- about 2 seconds later he had to come to a halt because it was rush hour traffic and the cars in front of us were at a stand still. I was like is he for real, was that really necessary to drive off like that? Boo on him. At least he's an aberration, and I made sure to give him my 'Victoria is very angry at you' look.
  
• Another driver I had couldn't say anything in English except "very good!" and "let's go!". Hahah, I loved it when he would say let's go. He would even do a little fist pump in the air when he said it!
• For some drivers here it's like the Outback Steakhouse motto- no rules, just right. One time we were a few cars deep at a red light and instead of just waiting a minute for the light to turn green my cab driver drove up onto the sidewalk, made the right hand turn, and jumped back off the sidewalk. He really did it like it was no big deal. They park on the sidewalks here sometimes, so it probably was no big deal when I think about it.
  
• Way back when I first got here my cab driver had a bunch of coins taped to his dashboard that he kept pointing at and saying something about to me. At first I thought they were Chinese coins and he was trying to tell me the price of the cab ride or something with them so I was just like okay...but then I looked at the coins more closely and realized that he had a bunch from different countries so he was trying to see if I could add to his collection. I looked through them and noticed that he didn't have any American coins but unfortunately I didn't have any with me. I felt really bad, especially since I couldn't explain to him that I didn't have any. Now, I always carry around a quarter in case I see him again!

That's enough for now!