I was pickpocketed today. Sigh. There goes my two week old cell phone. (I left the other one in a cab.) This time really wasn't my fault,though, because I'm fairly sure someone saw me asking people if they could fix the cracked screen and starting following me watching for an opportunity. I went through a street market and poof, by the time I got to the other side it was gone. I felt someone brushing up against me while I was in the crowd of the market and I actually wondered what was going on and if I should say something, but my brain was sort of frozen and I thought maybe I had put it in my bag. But no. There were two other girls with me, and their cell phones weren't stolen, but that's what you get for being a foreigner here.
And then of course we had to spend the whole day bargaining for a new phone. The one I was going to get was kinda ugly but doable and really cheap. But then there was a whole hoopla about not being able to use the SIM card I got (mercifully cheap because I thought to insure it this time) and the whole thing took about 20 hours and I didn't have time to do anything I wanted to today. All in all it was an unfortunate way to end my ISP fieldwork. I head back to Kunming tonight on a sleeper bus (somebody save me) and I am unspeakably excited for foreign food and to stop hearing so many "Hellos!" and having to deal with the constant stares. I'm just not in the mood, and I need a break. Luckily, soon comes Xi'an, Beijing, the Silk Road, and my parents.
New entry soon, while I'm starting my ISP paper and when I'm not feeling quite so jaded and burnt out. Damn culture shock.
On the bright side, I can say I've been pickpocketed now. That sounds cool, right?
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