If you've never ventured out your portion of the world, you don't realize how much of a difference there is in simple things - like crossing the street - in different nations. Sometimes even in different cities.
I had been out of the country only once before - one of those short trips to Tijuana. The kind you really don't adventure out for and don't see much more than what you're shown. So on my first major trip out of the country I learned a lot about crossing the street. It's not as simple as you would think.
My first stop on that first trip was Hong Kong. This was in 1999. The streets were busy. My only main concern was which way I should look for oncoming traffic. It seems simple enough - British system, look the opposite direction from in the States. Wait, there are tons of one way streets! How do I know which way to look?! Despite all the confusion, everything seemed pretty orderly. People crossed at crosswalks and lights. The main difference was the sheer mass of people compared to what I'd grown up with. So many people out walking and taking public transportation. Where did they all come from?!
My second stop on that trip was to Shanghai. Honestly, I was almost in tears at one point trying to cross the street. Nobody told me what to do. There were no obvious crosswalks where I was trying to go and the traffic didn't seem to slow down. And there were so many bicycles and scooters! And wait... I got used to looking the opposite direction in Hong Kong and now I've gotta think American again! Don't forget the cars that don't care what side of the road they're on. That experience was life changing.
Fast forward to living in Yantai, China for 4 years. Over these 4 years I assimilated. I started crossing the street whenever I felt like it... Red light, green light. Who cares. Oh, there's no crosswalk nearby and there is oncoming traffic? No worries! You can time it just right and the cars will avoid hitting you. Not only did I get past my fear, I was doing the complete opposite. Some of these things you'd NEVER BELIEVE I would do. It seems so out of character of me. I don't have videos of these experiences (I believe I did once actually catch a near miss on video but I have no idea where that footage is), but here are a few that I found on youtube that depict that insanity of crossing the street in Yantai. And I can confirm I've been to all these locations and that's every day life.
Somehow, this live game of Frogger became my every day reality. Not only did I do it, I just did it without realizing how CRAZY it looked to the foreign eye. Every time I bring a friend to China for the first time, I get to re-live my initial fear of crossing the street and the exhilaration of finally being able to do it without wanting to cry!
With this being my new reality, going other places (even home) were a cultural experience for me. Visiting Korea and Japan, I found they are much more like Hong Kong in they go with the lights and the crosswalks. But wait... Korea is like America. Driving on the right side. Japan drives on the left. And sometimes you have to go UNDERGROUND to cross the street? Huh... ok. Go to the subway to not take the subway but to get to the other side. Makes sense...
I've also visited Australia since I transitioned to thinking those crazy street crossing are normal. It was much like America except they drove on the "wrong" side of the street. Don't look the wrong way. But if you're on a street with little to no traffic - feel free to cross anywhere. Nobody's going to care.
And going to Mexico again with people who are used to American streets... Well, let's say I scared them a little bit. I'm convinced the car I was looking at was a good 1/2 mile away. So I started to time crossing the street so that neither I nor the car would have to change direction or slow down. My friends screamed at me to watch out and stood at the corner waiting for the light to change. There was ONE car on the whole street. Way far away. I wasn't going to wait - and they thought I'd lost my marbles. So I proceeded with my walk. All went as I expected it to. I walked, the car drove. Nobody had to slow down or move. And nobody died. Why were my friends so shocked?! *thinking* Hmmm... I forgot... this isn't their normal.
And even in the States I sometimes need to check myself. Similar instance as the one in Mexico. A friend and I had just come back from China, we were in China cross the street mode. We saw the car coming from a good block away. It was far enough away and we had our angle & timing figured out. They weren't gonna get anywhere near us and all would be fine. Or so we thought. About 100 ft away the car slammed on his brakes and started honking at us. We actually panicked. Nothing like that happens in China. We didn't know what to do. Stop? Go faster? ACK! Ok we eventually moved and got across the street and the car proceeded. But somehow that was more stressful than it should have been. Couldn't he see there was no way he would get anywhere near hitting us? I guess not.
So if you don't want to look like a foreigner in your travels... observe how people cross the street and go with the flow. If you do differently than they do, you WILL stand out like a sore thumb.
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