Yesterday before my Bulgarian lesson, I found myself thinking about the quirky metro that we have here in Sofia. Don't get me wrong, I like the metro here. I just don't <em>get it</em>.

Do we have metro etiquette here?

For example, in Washington DC when a train arrives you stand to the sides of the doors. You wait for others to file out and then you climb on. Once on the train, you don't make eye contact with anyone or at least you try very hard not to.

But one of the most important rules is this: you stand to the right. <em>Always</em>. This leaves the left hand side of the escalators free for people who want to walk. If you screw up and stand to the left, there's a pretty go chance that you will be yelled at and publicly shamed. Then you won't do it again.

Sofia though. The metro here in Sofia seems all backwards. First thing first, we've got one line so you're not likely to get lost you just might have a hard time getting in. <!--more-->

For some inexplicable reason once you've bought a ticket instead of putting the ticket in the machine on the right hand side of the turnstile, you cross your arm over your body and swipe on the left hand side. This feels totally unnatural and wrong. Oh and it's inconvenient to boot. I've never seen another metro system with this set-up.

This minor inconvenience shouldn't turn people in to crazies but it seems to. I know this because as soon as the train doors open people on the platform begin to pile into the train even if there are people trying to exit. There's nothing orderly about this maneuver. People just crowd in. So if you are in the train and you want out, you've got to be ready when the doors open to hop out before others start streaming in.

It's a little <em>Lord of the Flies</em> and <em>Heart of Darkness</em> action rolled into one. On the metro, it's each girl for herself. Good thing I am tall.

Then there are the escalators.  Generally people just seem to cram on them. A mass of humanity riding on moving stairs. Only today I noticed that there were some younger people trying to climb the escalator but there were people in the way. People moved but only grudgingly and not without a look or two that revealed their annoyance at having to move over to the right.

I found the whole thing very interesting. And I wanted to shout: stand to the right. Only, I was standing on the left. <em>Gasp.</em>  It lead me to wondering to we have unwritten rules of etiquette for the metro here in Sofia? And have I been inadv