Unwelcomed

Picture taken from the bus stop I was waiting at.  The structure with the curved roof is the bigger bus stop.

Since arriving here, I’ve heard a lot of stories about International Students getting beaten up or mugged or both.  At times I was skeptical when I was told about stories like this, but I believed it, most of the time.  We can’t deny that word of mouth is sometimes sensationalized. 

On Thursday nights, shops all over Newcastle will open longer than usual.  This is to give students as well as other people the chance to do some late night shopping or simply hang around.  Last Thursday night, Bill, Jen, and myself were at the bus stop waiting for Bill’s bus to come.  It was half past eight and we were at a bus stop waiting for Bill’s bus to arrive.  We talked for a bit, and realized that we were supposed to wait at the smaller bus stop facing the larger one.  We crossed the road and walked towards the bus stop.  There were only the three of us at the bus stop, while a rather large crowd (mostly Asians – International students of the Uni) have gathered waiting for the University bus to take them back to their dorms.  I saw this guy in a black shirt and white pants walking quickly around the bus stop, I didn’t notice him before, so I guess he must have just arrived when I notice him.  He was speaking loudly to a group of three male students.  Soon after, he started counting, and started punching the guys, I was appalled.  The guys ran and left their things there, a fourth guy came and asked what was going on and the white guy started punching him as well.  Even though there were four guys over there, the white guy was clearly larger than them.  It also happened too fast that I think everyone panicked.  People started walking, no, running away.  Soon, the bus stop was empty.  My friends and I ran too.  We ran towards the trees behind the bus stop.  As sudden as the bloke appeared, he made his quick escape with a car.  He sped away, never to be seen again. 

I was totally freaked out.  I’ve never seen anything like that before.  We decided to walk back to my house because it was already pass the time the bus should’ve arrived.  The next one would come about at 9:43 pm.  At half past nine, Bill and I went to the bus stop closer to my house.  Jen had already gone back.  We were there, waiting for the bus to come and I was praying hard so no one would mug us.  From the corner of my eye I saw a shadow quickly moving towards us.  My eyes took in the light and focused in the darkness.  I saw an Aussie teenager riding his push-scooter, or whatever those things are called.  He rode pass us, and was about to make a turn when a red toyota suddenly pulled up in front of him.  This happened about 10  meters away from us.  Four guys came out and started shoving the scooter guy around, one of them took his scooter and started smashing it on the road.  I watched in disbelief as Bill quickly took my arm and both of us started running.  As we ran, we saw headlights ahead of us, the 226 Bus which Bill was to take had stop at a bus stop about 100 meters ahead of us.  Both of us ran to the road and started waving.  Thankfully the driver saw us.  He waited until Bill got there.   I said my goodbyes and ran back home. 

In Australia, these people are called Bogons.  A month ago there was a survey conducted to see which town had the most Bogons, I didn’t check to see if Jesmond or Newcastle had a hihg population of bogons.  Since I didn’t grow up with Bogon in my vocabulary, I’d rather think of these people as Ungrateful Inglorious Bastards who are intoxicated almost the whole time they forget that the WE THE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS ARE PUMPING IN SO MUCH MONEY SO THAT THEY COULD HAVE A CHEAP/FREE EDUCATION.  If they are so uninterested in Education, the government might as well lower our tuition fees.  As far as I can recall, I didn’t pay to come here to be harassed.