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I've decided to add a new category to the blog. "Stupid Californian" will be a place where I relate anecdotes based on differing cultural assumptions. For example:
I've already explained the minibuses, technically called "marshroutes," that careen around the city on myriad undocumented courses. Well, the first couple of times that I'd gotten in them, I consistently checked for seatbelts. Silly Owen, why would a passenger van that routinely comes within inches of violent crashes have seatbelts?
Today I sat in the front, next to the driver, because there was no room in the back on one of my trips. As a reflex, I reached behind me to grab the seatbelt. To my astonishment, there was a seatbelt there. Unfortunately, I felt so much social pressure to just let it be, that I didn't actually put the seatbelt on. That would have been like putting a huge sign on my forehead that read foreigner. No, I much prefer for people to assume I'm some variety of native until the very end of the trip when I call out where I wish the bus to stop, and everybody turns to see the kid with the accent. At least that way my foreigner status is only common knowledge for a minute before I exit the vehicle.
Posted by Owen at November 21, 2003 08:55 PM | TrackBackI've already explained the minibuses, technically called "marshroutes"...
Technically, this is incorrect. The word "marshrut" means "route", as in the bus route, the train route, etc. The minibus is called a "marshrutka", which is a compound Russian word that means, loosely, "a cute little route-bus". They are a relatively recent addition to the Russian public transit system (or, more precisely, I haven't seen that many of them in Moscow about 20 years ago). In Israel, however, they are very popular.
On a sidenote, your blog hosting seems to be a bit shaky. Once in a while, it refuses my connection, and just now it ate the previous version of this comment.
Posted by: Bugmaster at November 22, 2003 01:56 AM"marshroot" is also "route" in Bulgarian. Fun fact of the day I guess. Minibuses work the same way here, too. Incidentally, taxi drivers here are actually insulted if you try to put on a seatbelt. They'll tell you not to, then pull a blind u-turn on a busy crowded street. Fun!
Posted by: Rob at November 23, 2003 08:12 PM