Sunday, February 06, 2005
OMG fish i am so deliriously happy i can't quite type straight!!
ok. was going to title this "my scariest day" but somehow the mood got lost along the way. ohwelly. here's what happened:
i planned a trip to the Bronx Zoo, which is in a place none other than the Bronx! did some research on how to get there, which walking route to take (big zoo that it was) the night before, and then got up early the next day at 6am to give myself ample time to get there.
turned out the subway ride (21 stops uptown from New York Penn station) wasn't as long as i'd thought it'd be. it did, however, take me up through Manhattan, all the way into the heart of the Bronx. and that alone was enough to freak me out.
as i sat there twiddling my thumbs (a bundle of nerves) and looking out the train window, i was greeted with streets that seemed starkly different from the well-polished sidewalks of central manhattan. there was trash strewn everywhere, graffitti on the walls, grime, dirt, slush and soil. not a very pretty neighbourhood. i also noted (not to be racist or anything) that a large part of the residents were african american from low income families.
that morning in the car, while driving me to the shorthills train station, my uncle had warned me about the high incidences of street crimes and robberies, rapes and murders. he told me to put half my cash, my ic and my tickets in my coat pocket just in case i got mugged along the way. and if i did encounter a violent robber, he said, i was to calmly hand him my handbag, offer no resistance and let him go off with my money. (better my money than my life.)
admittedly, that piece of well-meaning advice unnerved me somewhat. by the time i got to "East Tremont Street", i was clutching my handbag against my chest as if my life depended on it.
and as usual, i got lost. walked up a couple of blocks in the wet, slushy slippery mix of ice and snow, didn't see Zoo Gate A, Asia Entrance, so walked back through the muck. climbed that horrible flight of stairs up to the station control, asked directions and found that i'd walked down the wrong side of the road.
like an overhead bridge, the train station. the tracks were in the middle above ground, and you could exit either on street right or street left. (damn those broad broad streets and those wide wide lanes with no pedestrian crossing on level ground!)
along the way to Zoo Gate A, i passed many strange people carrying black trash bags. they slung them over their shoulders and pulled up their hoods so i couldn't see their faces. random strangers (literally!) on the street, but they all looked poor, homeless and in my eyes, like potential muggers. my brain was racing with ideas for a pre-emptive plan-of-action just in case i was attacked: i would scream, swing something at them and run for my life if they tried anything funny.
passed through a group of black people waiting for the public bus at the side of the street. visibly quickened my pace.
finally got to Zoo Gate A, but found that i was too early. the zoo opened at 10am and the ticket booth lady looked at me as if i was crazy when i asked for a ticket at godforsaken 9.40 am in the morning.
so i made my way back, past my scary-looking fellow pedestrians, past the waiting group, past the people who lingered, wandered, looked lost. no pity, no sympathy from me. just overwhelming suspicion and a heightened sense of danger.
i never looked any one of them in the eye.
went into a donut shop (as grimey as the streets outside), ordered a hot chocolate and sat down at a table to read for a bit, in a desperate attempt to hit 10am and start my walk back to the zoo.
AND THEN the three black teenagers sitting at an adjacent table suddenly got up and changed seat. they slid into my table and sat opposite me in an attempt, i believe, to frighten me. i DID NOT let them have their kick. while they banged and rattled on the table, and talked unneccessarily loudly among themselves, i put my head down, sipped my chocolate and attempted to carry on reading. they continued for a full fifteen minutes, trying to get my attention, prossibly trying to provoke me into some sort of retaliatary response, but i just sat there seemingly engrossed in Milton's Paradise Lost, all the while trying my hardest to IGNORE THEM COMPLETELY.
idiots. they totally pissed me off and they knew i couldn't do anything about it except ignore them. well, they had their fun (whatever) for awhile, but then got bored i think and then went off to find more fun stuff to do. apparently, they were playing truant (it was friday) and skipping school for the day.
young chinese girl, all alone in the streets with her pretty clothes and shoes and handbag. easy target?
but i thank god that NOTHING happened to me, save that uneasy, close encounter with those boys. left the zoo at two thirty, got home at five, just in time for twilight dusk to settle in.
truly, the scariest day ever. but next week, by god's grace, i'm going to hit downtown Brooklyn. perhaps more horrors await me then. i'd love to visit the New York Aquarium, but i just don't know how much risk i'm willing to take.
planted @
4:55 AM
