Phil and Red's Excellent Adventure

Quite bitter sweet. I had a wonderful day with fantastic friends that I met and spent the most of the day with then on the way back to the apartment with Yumi, I get my wallet stolen in the time from getting off one bus and then getting onto another one.
It was so quick. And I didn't realize it until after the guy had made off. I have to give the guy some credit, he had amazing skill. My wallet was in my right front pocket under my shoulder bag. He was able to get inbetween that without my noticing anything and I am paranoid, i am always being careful about my wallet and junk.
I wasn't too worried about it though, it was 30RMB. Only problem was my credit card was in there along with my driver's license. So, i got online right when I got back. Talked to my dad and he was able to cancel my card quicker than I would have been able to over the internet. Along with ordering me a new one. Then we spent the rest of the night figuring out how to send me some extra cash via Western Union in case of any emergencies or if anything arises at the airport with my extra oversized box that I am taking home. (I have 3 pieces of luggage to check. The oversized piece is just over regulations on LxWxH.) I figured checking it on the plane is cheaper than trying to use FedEx or UPS, which it is.
Anywho, back to my day. Got up quite early because Coco wanted to meet for breakfast early. Yumi and i were still grogery from the night before. Got home around 3-330AM. So we were really tired. We had a wonderful dim sum breakfast with Coco and her daughter Michelle. she was going back to her school today and had to shop for things, thats why we did it so early. I said my goodbyes and told them I would stay in touch.
After lunch we went back to the apt and took a nap and I did some things while Yumi slept longer. Then we got ready for going out to Shiqi for dinner with Mayu, Yuji, Mountain, and Snow at the Korean resturant.
The bus station was uber-crowded. The most poeple I have ever seen there. All the kids were catching the last buses to shiqi and to their schools. We ended up getting a taxi with another school girl because all the buses were sold out for the rest of the day. Yikes.
We got to Shiqi and caught another bus to a street that we could walk down to get to the resturant. We window shopped and goofed around a bit because we had some time. All the while, John was text messaging me about stuff.
We met with Mayu and Yuji about 6pm and headed to the resturant. They gave me a bouquet of flowers. Aaaawwww. We took pictures and chatted. Then Mt and Snow showed up about 30 mintues later.
We had an absolutely wonderful Korean BBQ dinner and the salad was terrific as well. So good.
We were there for like 2.5 hours. It was great. Mt gave me one of those little gong fu monk kid statues. This one has the guy doing a Monkey Fist stance. Cute. So cute.
We said our goodbyes and we would keep in touch.
Then Yumi and I caught the #1 bus to the Flower Hotel where we picked up the #38 to Xiaolan.
Somewhere between standing up on the #1 bus at the busstop and finally getting on the #38 and leaving, is when my wallet got stolen. Sneaky bastard.
Yumi said, "It's China." Yes it is. China, the bittersweet bastard. ;-D
The whole day served as a metaphor for my personal experience in China. And I am thankful that it reminded me just how much of a breeding ground this place is for theives.
Dont get me wrong, wonderful people are here too. Its a great place at times. It just seems there is more of a sense of people wanting to steal yo' stereo. Its like, everyone has the potential to be a theif here. Where at home and other places I have been, i dont get that sense.
(of course this can happen in other countries and it does, but its never happened to me in other countrires so there. ;-))
So, things stolen from me in china: 1 bike, 1 cellfone, 1 wallet, my innocence, and my good graces.
Things gained: Many wonderful friends, gong fu, unique experience, the ancient culture, history, hatred of chinese in business, The 1-Child Policy, and greater understanding of the world.

you know, with the way the day was, i didnt realize that it was the 4 year anniversary of the Sept 11th Terror attacks. Wow. The world is less safe, thanks to some jackasses in power - and its not just the obvious either. ;-)