Funny Story

So sometimes I take the bus from Ouakam to and from school in Point E. It costs about 40 cents and takes about 40 minutes, and it's always incredibly crowded unless you catch it at the terminus, but even then you've got to put your bag down on your seat to save it and fight the line to pay the cashier your 150 CFA. If you don't get a seat, you get to hang onto a pole and try not to fall down. But this is usually not a problem, as you are surrounded by people on all sides. On the bus ride, you pass the embassies for Madagascar and Indonesia, Suffolk University's Dakar campus, and a bunch of stalls where people sell things to stopped traffic. There's also a monkey that belongs to someone near there who is always tied up in a tree.

A few days ago I took the bus home as per usual, was really glad to not fall over at all, and finally secured a seat as we entered my quartier (but not my neighborhood) when I heard this great big bang! Now, being a silly American, I instantly thought that a bomb had exploded on the bus or something. But it turned out that the cashier's cash box had fallen onto the floor, and a group of people were helping him pick up the coins. Then I started smelling smoke, consequently was worried, and asked a woman, "Qu'est-ce qui se passe?"

"Pneu creve," she said - flat tire. I was really glad to hear this. As I descended the bus with the rest of the passengers, I saw the busted tire, and I also noticed that everyone was getting off the bus. So there we were, this parade of displaced bus passengers, and everyone walked home. No one stuck around to wait for the tire to get fixed, or even to get another bus. We were all close enough to our houses. There were business people, students, women in elegant boubous - I was definitely the only white person (it's not as weird as you'd think) - and no one seemed upset. They just got off the bus and went on their way.

As I walked to my house through the dusty streets, past tailors and stalls and garbage piles and kids playing soccer in a large field, it occurred to me that this would never happen in the US. People would be so angry if a bus got a flat tire. They would probably stick around and wait for it to get fixed - demand that it be fixed. They might wait around to see if another bus would show up. They might call a friend or relative to come pick them up. They might call a cab company. They might threaten to send an angry letter to the local government. But they certainly wouldn't walk home. And that is exactly what my fellow commuters - and I - did. And I thought to myself, this country is pretty amazing.