Bus Buddies

In college I took a really boring sociology course from which I took one concept I found interesting called involved indifference. Involved indifference is a phenomenon that occurs in big cities with an overabundance of stimuli. People actively ignore one another and do not make eye contact in order to avoid over-stimulation. I have an incredibly annoying hour long commute which requires taking a two buses and a train. Usually I avoid talking to anyone on my commute but in Shanghai since I'm a foreigner I stand out. As a pregnant foreigner I stood out even more. For some reason recently strangers I frequently see on my commute seem to want to make small talk with me. I never would have even guessed they knew any English but it seems they learned enough to ask me how the baby is... weird.