So today probably felt like the worst day ever. I came to the realization that my camera was missing. Sometime in between the end of the foundation festival and my return to the hostel my camera either fell out of my pocket or someone took the liberty to take it from my pocket, my thoughts points to the latter.
After beating myself up, I resolved to put in time and effort to try and find it. I decided to go to the Public Security Bureau (PSB) to report the theft and file a claim in the rare offshoot that they find it. I got an interesting perspective of how the PSB works now. For better or worse, I an unfamiliar with our own US police force procedures; but I think that it is safe to say that the PSB is more bloated and bureaucratic that our own system. It took about 2-3 hours to complete the entire process. First I went to one police station, where I luckily found someone who spoke English. After a few phone calls, she escorted me to another police station where I filled out one form. After that was done and a few more phone calls I was shuttled to another, even larger, police station – about 25 floors of pig country. There I filled out basically the same form and was finally on merry way.
Instead of being emo and depressed in my room, I decided to continue with my plans and decided to check out the Muslim Quarter – even though I wasn’t really in the mood. I got a few snacks, Muslim bread and lamb is super delicious, and then left. I just couldn’t really get into the right mindset thus diminishing the magic of the Muslim Quarter, guess I’ll substitute it for visiting a Muslim country in the future. For dinner I decided to treat myself to some American food and went to the Hostel’s restaurant and received a fairly delicious BBQ chicken sandwich. Oh how I miss the starch-based foods.
After dinner, I was able to skype with my parents and let them know what happened. I’m going to take a moment to embarrass them. Because true be told, I felt quite miserable after losing my camera, unsure of what I should do, thinking about returning to Dalian. But from comforting and encouraging words from my folks I was able, and decided, to persevere and continue with my trip. It was a pleasant, and welcoming, surprise that instead of anger, disappointment, and/or the “teasing jests” I was received with anxiety and worry. It is quite difficult to express in words without teasing my folks, but it was one of the few times I appreciated everything my parents said – not that I don’t appreciated the constant nagging and whatnot, though I know you mean well…
In better spirits after comforting words from my parents I just chilled in my room and watched some of the Australian Open. The Chinese star Li Na is making waves and history, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. Tomorrow to Kunming we go.
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