the Mobile Melting Pot

riding the F train to work every day, one really does encounter a cross section of New York's extraordinarily diverse and overwhelmingly bizarre population (i've made several comments on this in the past). now, i realize that different cultures have different social norms and customs but it's truly amazing the things that people will do on a semi-crowded subway car. it really isn't my intention to come off as a total xenophobia, but here you go. 5 examples, submitted for your approval:

1. coming home yesterday, the train was very old; it had two long bench seats running the length of the cars and several poles running down them middle aisle. the nearly empty train was filled at my stop. when i sat down, an indian/middle eastern man sat to my right and a young black girl sat on my right. as we hurtled out of Brooklyn, the man on my right got closer and closer and closer. by the time we got to 14th street he was almost literally, in my lap. when i got up at 23rd (preparing to get off at 34th), i noticed that there was nobody to his right. i don't know if he was trying to go home in my pocket or what, but he made me terribly uncomfortable.
2. about a week ago, on the way home, i watched as an old Asian man kept his index finger, buried up to the 3rd knuckle, in his nose for the entire ride from Brooklyn to 34th street. when i got off, his finger was still in his nose. i don't know what he was digging for, but i hope he found it eventually.
3. on the way to work the other day i saw a man gnawing on a stick. it wasn't a toothpick or a chopstick. it looked like a small tree branch, possibly a large twig. he was on the train when i got on and didn't exit before i did.
4. a few weeks ago, on the way home, i watched as a Russian woman (i know this only because of the newspaper she had in her hand) jumped into a seat that a very pregnant woman was aiming to sit down in. she then gave the pregnant woman all kinds of face, because she was almost sat on. (yes i gave the pregnant woman my seat).
5. several weeks ago, on the way home, two older Eastern European couples got on the train. the sat across from each other, with the substantial aisle between them, talking loudly in their native tongue. as the train filled with people, they continued their conversation by shouting at each other over the heads of the other strap-hangers.

is it me or are these examples of strange behavior? is there a cultural definition of "personal space" and "hygiene"? it seems the more i take public transportation, the more i notice that different cultures behave in the most bizarre ways.

“There's no map to human behaviour”~ Bjork