Day 1 - Part 3: Buses and Burgers

I've begun to realize that suddenly becoming Deaf has a steep learning curve. While I am fluent in ASL, it is definitely proving to be problematic that most other people are not.  My most recent adventure has put me in Center City.  The bus ride here proved to be very uneventful, but very enlightening. It really opened my eyes to a few things. 1) I am DEFINITELY keeping the earplugs handy for bus rides after my week of silence is over - it was by far the most peaceful SEPTA experience I've had! 2) As a hearing person, I actually rely on that sense quite a bit for things that I never really noticed - such as whether or not someone else has already requested a stop at the street where I plan to get off the bus (BING!).

One challenge I anticipated ahead of time was trying to order vegan food with highly limited means of communication. I decided that until I've figured out this whole non-signing communication thing, that I'm going to stick to mostly vegan restaurants.  Today I chose a personal favorite, HipCityVeg. Upon entering the small, crowded establishment, I quickly ran into a slightly awkward situation where I was struggling to communicate that I was in fact not ready to order, and that the people who came in behind me should jump ahead of me. When people are looking at you expectantly, it's a little unsettling to not be able to explain coherently or articulately what you would like them to do. One woman turned to me and asked what I can only assume was something like "Are you in line to order?" and gestured toward the cashier. I signed "Sorry," to which she mouthed very slowly "Are you waiting?" (Having been hard of hearing has its advantages - lip reading abilities FTW!) After that interaction, which others must have witnessed, things went much more smoothly.

When I got up to the cashier to place my order, I decided to try a different tactic than this morning. After the whole texting fiasco, I was not eager to repeat this. I simply grabbed one of their mini-menus and pointed to my order. Whether she picked up on my inability to hear from that decision or whether someone told her, I'm not sure - but at any rate, the woman to whom I gave my order proceeded to very calmly finish having me order, take my name, and pay through writing on a post-it. It was a MUCH smoother experience than Starbucks.

The troubles came in, however, in trying to get my food after I'd ordered. HipCityVeg, like many fast food establishments, simply calls the name out of the person who ordered the food. There are also different people taking the orders than preparing and delivering the food to the customers. Evidently my deafness was not communicated to the people preparing and delivering orders, because I was waiting for quite some time to pick up my food. I finally approached the cashier who had helped me and tried to gesture that I had been waiting for a long time to get my food. The problem was resolved quickly, and the burger was absolutely worth it! (Vegans and vegetarians, you seriously need to go to this place if you haven't already!)

I am still getting used to walking down the street and not being able to hear traffic or people talking on cell phones or sirens or car horns or anything. However, it's slowly becoming normal to me.