From NYC to SF

From NY, NY to Pittsburgh, PA: The bus departed at 1 p.m. to Philadelphia at the New York City’s bus terminal. There were actually two lines and entrances for Philadelphia which was the first transfer I would have for this cross continent trip. I guess one line was for those people’s destination was Philadelphia I didn’t know and stood at the first line. When it was time to get on the bus and the security guards started to check the bags, they told me to get on the second bus after they saw my tickets. One of the guards was quite rude and asked me to hurry up. The other guard asked me where my destination was. I told him it was San Francisco and that surprise him. There were only around ten people on the second bus. I only noticed three girls and one young man who sat in front of me. The spoke a language I am not familiar with. I guess they were from Russia or East Europe. Some of these girls took some pictures of New York City on the way. and the other was for the transfer.

In Philadelphia, I was taking my time to wander around and have a snack before I boarded the bus. But then I didn’t know which gate for me to board the bus. I had to go to the information desk to ask for that. There was a long line at the gate which I was going to board. The bus started to show sign of trouble when we were out of Philadelphia just for a while. It stopped several times on the road and two guys sat in front of me started to complain loudly. The bus driver was nice enough to address everybody he would take care the problem. We were lucky not stop in the middle of nowhere. At last, the bus came to the bus station of King of Prussia, PA The bus driver first said a new bus would come to get us in an hour. Then he changed to two to three hours. The truth was the new bus appeared after more than four hours. Two local sheriffs showed up when we were waiting for the new bus. They exchanged some words with the bus driver. I took out King Rat and started to read. It has been almost four months since I started to read King Rat. I had to finish reading Jim Roger’s Investment Biker, Adventure Capitalist and Hot Commodities during these times. Plus, I had to read the Notebook, a very interesting story, which was introduced by W. I went into the station to buy a bottle Coke. Someone inside reminded me the vending machine was broken and it only took quarters. I had to change the quarters in the front desk. I sat on the stone bench around the outside wall of the station and read the book. Many people made the phone call and informed their relatives or friends or people who was going to pick them up they were going to be late. There were one girl and one boy sat next to me. They seemed to know the three girls and the young man I mentioned before. The boy asked me where I bought the coke. He had to speak a few times until I got what he said. I told him the place and the problem with the vending machine. The girl wore tight light blue short sleeve cloth and looked very young and pretty. I spoke with the driver about the delay of bus schedule. He tried to assure me he would put me on first for the next available bus. At last, the bus came and we continued our trip. The bus made a stop at Harrisburg, PA in the evening. It was raining at that time and the city looked very beautiful. There was a party going on inside a building which has tall glass windows. I was thinking I needed to study a little bit about Harrisburg when I got home. I didn’t know Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania until later. The bus made another stop at Blue Mountain, PA before it arrived at Pittsburgh, PA. We had to get off the bus first and boarded the bus later after it was clean up. The bus driver gave a reboarding ticket to everyone whose destinations were St. Louis, MO. A girl sat in front of me asked the driver if we were St. Louis yet. The driver said we were not there yet and told her to get back to the same bus later. I didn’t pay much attention to her but I knew she was taking the nap on the bus. When I got off the bus and went into the station, I didn’t see her follow up. I turned back to the bus and told her to come with me. She asked me if she need to take her bags with her. I told her it was better to do that. But at that time a cleaner came to the bus and asked us to step down the bus because he needed to clean the bus. We told him we needed to get the bags but he said we didn’t need to worry about that if we were going to come back to the bus. He war very rude when he asked us to step out the bus. and we all got off the bus.

We went into the station and stayed behind the gate which we supposed to reboard the bus. I asked her to take a seat and take a break. But the girl worried about her bags and other stuffs. She went into the information office and told to the officer in there. Later, she came back and sat down. When the reboarding announcement came out, the boarding gate was changed to the next one. The girl was the first one to get to the gate. Either she understood the announcement well or she knew that before hand. We got on the bus. She was happy to find out her bags were still at the same place. She still sat behind the driver and I sat behind her.

Columbus: left Pittsburgh around 1 a.m. and reached Columbus around 6 a.m., the girl asked the man who sat next to her if we reached St. Louis yet. I stood up and tapped her shoulder. She turned around and I told her we weren’t there yet. Since we were going to board at the same bus after the bus was cleaned up, we had to keep the reboarding tickets. This time, the girl took all her bags with her and got off the bus. She stayed at the gate we would board later. I went up and said hi to her. I asked where she was going to and she said something about Denver and Frisco. She might tell me about the Keystone Resorts too. But at that time I was not familiar with these places at all. I told her San Francisco was my destination. She said she had to make a call to tell the person who was going to pick her up at the destination she was going to be late. She went to the phone booth and came back quickly. I asked her if she made the call and she said the phone card didn’t work. I took a look her phone card and I found the card only could use in the New York State. I took out my cell and told her she could use my cell to make the call. She asked me if she could make the international call on my cell. I told her she couldn’t and was wondering why she needed to make that long distant call. She explained to me she had to call somebody in Ukraine first and then the person would call the other person who is in Frisco. I wondered why she didn’t have the Frisco person’s phone number and had to go around a big circle like that. I wanted to help her to make the call but it was too early in the morning. I told her I would get a phone number for the international call for her later. I showed her the map book of all fifty states. She asked me why I wanted to go to San Francisco instead of other places. I told her I was making decision between San Francisco and Los Angeles. I felt Los Angeles is more crowd than San Francisco before I had the static of the population to prove my view. Los Angeles is a fashion and modern city while San Francisco comes with more heritage and history. Also, I am not fond of those stars though I like to watch Hollywood movies. She told me she wanted to go to Los Angeles. She asked me why I traveled alone. I told her it was hard to find somebody who had the same vacation schedule as me and was willing to travel cross-state by bus. After we boarded the bus, she asked if the next stop was St. Louis. Since I sat two rows down, I went up to show her how far we were from St. Louis with the map. The driver came into the bus and asked me to leave the front row. I found a seat at the next row across the isle. She gave me a Ukrainian candy later. Maybe she wanted to thank me for helping her or she felt sorry I was kicked away by the driver or both.

Indianapolis: I called my dad to get the access code for the international call. The girl said she was not comfortable about accepting that kind of help from me. But I insisted to help her. I called Ukraine after the girl gave me the phone number. I handed the phone to her after I dialed the number. But it didn’t work. Probably it only worked for calling China but not Ukraine. She complained about the delay of buses and asked how many stops we were going to have before we reached St. Louis. I told her honestly I didn’t know. I showed her the bus schedule I printed from the Greyhound’s confirming email. The schedule just showed the major bus stops. She liked to sit in the front seat which was just behind the driver. Though sometimes the drivers warned nobody could sit in there, it seemed she was an exception.

Terre Haute, IN and Effingham, IL: the bus made a rest stop at one these two places. I can’t remember which one now. We stopped at a gas station and I went inside to buy some candy bars and food. Later, I came back with a bagful of stuff. Olha didn’t go into the store but she stepped out the bus to take some fresh air. At that time, I still didn’t realize she came to the U.S. for work instead of studying. She complained she didn’t get the help in accommodation. She got a list of people she was going to meet and sent email to everyone of them to talk about the accommodation problem. But few of them replied to her, she told me. She said she missed her family and her friends. It was bright and sunny day at that time. I asked her where the place is. She said it was a small town. I looked at the blue sky and said she might like it if she enjoy the nature and like the life at a small town.

St. Louis: at last we came to St. Louis bus station when the sunset was on the way. There was already a long line waiting for going to Kansas City. We sat down next to each other. There was a guy on the same bus and were going to Kansas City too asked us to watch his bag for a while. She asked how many brothers and sisters I had. I told her I had one sister and one brother. She asked me if I took care of my siblings most of the time. I told her I prefer to give freedom to them than tell them what to do. She said her brother like to watch her closely when she was little. I told her I believe my siblings could do better with my minimum management. It turn out they are doing better than me right now. On the other hand, the relationship isn’t close between us. I said people work harder and smarter when they work for themselves. In fact, that’s different between capitalism and communism. Now, communism failed in the competition and capitalism is the only system work well and is dominating the world. She said she used to like to help other people but some people didn’t appreciate her help. So now she only helps her family and closed friends. She didn’t know how to use the word “appreciate” when she said it. She felt Chinese is more friendly and helpful than American she had met. Personally, I felt American is more helpful than Chinese based on my own experience. I told her I am probably the first Chinese she had met and known in the U.S. It is pretty hard to find a Chinese in Ukraine too, I figured. She said she knew a Chinese girl studies in her college and the girl went to work at New York City this summer. She gave me two Ukrainian candies. When I asked her if she wanted the gum, she was trying to ignore me. Though we knew each other for a while, but I never got her name. She never asked my name either. So at there, I asked her what her name is. She only told me her first name “Olha”. She taught me how to pronounce the name. She said it is used as first name in Ukraine but people usually used it as last name in Poland. She said she attends a college as an undergraduate student at Poland after she graduated from a Ukrainian college. She might tell me the name of the college she attends, the place where the college locates and the city her family lives. But all these places I was not familiar with and I had hard time to remember them. She said her major was in art when she was studying in Ukraine. But she had trouble to find a job. So she chose to study marketing. She asked me if it is easy to find a job in New York City. I said it is easy to find a job if people is willing to work hard. But it is difficult to find a good job. I told her I wanted to find a better job and improved my communication skill. She asked me if I understood her English. I said I understood but I didn’t understand a lot of things she said because they were strange to me. We met a man who is from Tennessee State. He said he was running for senate for his county at that time. We talked about a little bit politics and high-speed train system he campaigned for. I asked him if St. Louis used to be occupied by French because I saw the decoration on the ceiling of the bus station. He said it was and told me French is lover but not fighter. I said no wonder French lost to German in the WWII. He reminded me that China used to be occupied by Japanese and the French revolution. He actually took out a book which title is French revolution. The bus was late and we waited for more than an hour to get on the bus. The waiting line was long and it took two buses to take care all the people. We were last few people to get on the first bus. So we didn’t sat together or sat close to each other. Olha found a seat in the second row and I had a seat in the tenth or eleventh row.

Kansas City: The bus made a couple stops between St Louis and Kansas City. At one point, Olha turned around and it seemed she looked for something. When she saw me, she turned back. It was around 1 a.m. when we arrived at Kansas City. I was so sleepy. When I got off the bus, I saw Olha stood in front of the door and bent over looking for something in her bags. There was a man coming out of the door and Olha was on his way but she didn’t see it. I went up and pulled her out of the doorway. I asked her how she was doing. She said she was sleepy. I asked her to go inside the station. We found the gate for reboarding and put down our bags at there. She told me a Mexican woman sat next to her on the last bus and she couldn’t understand what the woman said. I told her I had a Mexican man sat next to me. She seemed in pretty good mood.