The Free Citizen's Bus!
There are so many bus companies here in Zhubei and so far I haven't seen a bus map that would help us decide which would take us where we want to go. But here is something great about living in Zhubei; there are at least 6 bus lines that I know of that are free of charge. Some of these are provided by the county government in order to reduce traffic on the roads. Two of the free buses come within a few blocks of our apartment. One of them goes within a 15 minute walk of the university I'll be attending. To ride the free buses you have to wait between 20 minutes and one hour, depending on the route and time of day. When they arrive Soleil and I are glad to get on because they are air-conditioned and it has been hot and humid here.
A few weeks ago in Taipei I taught Soleil to read the characters 免費, meaning no charge or literally, exempt from fees. It's pronounced miǎnfèi. Here in Zhubei she recognized 免费 when we saw it on bus 61, which runs from Carrefour department store to our neighborhood. She said 免miǎn looks like 兔tù, which means rabbit. It does. But do you see the difference?
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兔rabbit |
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| 免without, avoid, excused from |
兔 tù has a little rabbit dropping at the bottom of it. But 免 miǎn, the no of no charge, has no turd.
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