So it's a $110 fine to get caught riding a bus without a valid ticket.
Not that I know from experience.
Okay, so I do know from experience. Sort of.
Here's the story: When we first got to Australia, our director gave us little yellow passes, smaller than a credit card. They got us onto all the public transportation in Sydney, basically. You pretty much couldn't go anywhere without one, unless you wanted to shell out 3+ dollars per bus, train or ferry ride. And if we lost it and had to replace it, it was about 530 bucks. Did not want to lose one of these puppies.
Knowing that I have a tendency to lose important things, I have been pretty obsessed with knowing where my bus pass is. Like, checking for it in my bag every few minutes and having a miniature panic attack when I don't find it right away. But I feel that it's a great testament to my growing maturity and ability to be a responsible adult that I haven't lost it yet. Feel free to congratulate me.
But last Wednesday, some friends and I were going to Hillsong for their college ministry. We were walking to the train station where a shuttle comes to pick up other Hillsong-goers, when we decided to hop on a bus for a couple blocks to save ourselves some time. Getting on the bus, I take out my yellow pass, plop it in the ticket machine and wait for it to pop back up, like I've done millions of time. Except it doesn't pop back up.
My first reaction, honestly, was, "Well, I knew something was going to happen to it. I'm glad it isn't my fault." But then questions like 'How will I get home tonight?' and 'Will I have to become a hermit and never leave home?' started popping up in my head. The bus driver was pretty great about it, really. He gave me something with the bus depot's phone number, and wrote me a little note explaining the situation to show other bus drivers until I could get my pass back.
So we go to Hillsong and come back to catch a train so we can catch a bus. And it's probably a miracle that all the train ticket lanes were open, and no one had to use a pass. After that free train, we got to the bus stop and stepped on the first one that came.
This bus driver was not so nice. Well, in retrospect he actually was. I showed him the card the other guy gave me and explain what had happened. He just sighed and was like, "Well, if Revenue [I still have no idea what/who Revenue actually is] gets on and you don't have a valid ticket, you'll get fined $110." And when I asked him the likelihood of that, he just shrugged. So I just shrugged and decided to risk it. So it's pretty cool of him to just let me on the bus.
But happy ending: I didn't get fined or anything. And I got my ticket back the next day. The nicest people in Australia, by the way, work at the bus depot. All in all, it was a valuable experience.
Other than that, I've been doing things to put off homework, getting buried with more assignments, and then procrastinating more. These past few days I've done some pretty cool stuff while I was procrastinating. Some of us went to Luna Park, which is kind of like a creepy version of Coney Island. I went to Watson's Bay again with my friend Joann. Walked from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach with cousins and friends, and took my first swim in the Australian Pacific! Which was probably the coldest thing of my life. But it was a beautiful day and it had to be done.
So this week I'm not allowing myself to have any fun. At least, until all my assignments are done. I actually should be reading right now. Let me tell you, doing homework in Australia is the worst. Especially since it's finally warm and sunny and amazing outside and I am in a library, looking at it through windows. But hey, that's just more motivation to get it done as fast as possible.
current song: Sugar Blue by Jeff Finlin
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