Biking was the main means of transportation, at least around JiaoTong campus and between my dorm and the metro station. It felt nostalgic getting to bike again -- it had been around 8 years. When I was young, I biked around with my cousin a lot (FYI, I’m the only child, so I grew up playing with my cousin and kids in the neighborhood). However, as we grew up, we traveled farther to school through either bus or car. Biking had become less useful, and there was no more time to bike around anymore.
Biking is very refreshing especially in the typical summer weather in Shanghai. Seriously, high temperature just stings, but humidity kills.
However, biking in the campus can become stressful. During the gap between classes is the worst time to bike. People would just flood onto the roads out of nowhere going to class, back to their dorms or to a dining hall. Of course, there would be some jerks texting while biking. Beep! Beep! No texting while biking PLEASE!! And some jerks would just turn left or right out of the sudden without giving a sign. I understood now why police officers love giving tickets to people who didn’t turn on the turning signal. Worse are those who just decides, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD, to stop and text or checking out a girl walking on the sidewalk.
That’s basically how I ended up cussing in my heart all the time. Handlebar rage is as real as wheel rage, to be honest. Contradicting is the fact that I cursed almost every time I biked to the metro station on Sundays going to church. I did feel like a hypocrite. I did feel far from Jesus when I wasn’t surrounded with christian friends. I didn’t even read the word as I used to when I was in the states. Summer in Shanghai was truly the beginning of my journey with God as an individual -- a journey with God who is personal.
