It's already been a week since I left Xian, but the last night at Starfish was a little overwhelming. My camera was stolen after going with a friend to the fountain show. The water works were beautiful, and the music went perfectly with each fountain as they shot up and down and side to side. It was incredible and of course I had my camera with me. Yes, near the water....
I meant to be careful, very very careful, but after a short while we decided to cross one of the water areas after the fountains had stopped for a while. Well, they stopped and we ran and we got wet. I was very disappointed in myself for doing something so stupid. So, later, after this dumb act, I took out my battery and also my camera card. I wanted to leave right then because I was so sick to my stomach about what I had just done. This is how I broke my other camera. When I was on a backpacking trip with some friend, I dropped it in the water. This camera was also purchased by my parents, so you can imagine my thought and worries after that moment when I got yet another hunk of money lost. When I was about to motion to Linn through the crowd that I thought we should go home, a woman told me she wanted a picture of me with her daughter. I don't understand why they do this. They could just find a foreigner on the internet and photo shop! But I didn't refuse her and went ahead with it. I smiled for about 50 pictures and when I was finally able to rest my smiling muscles, the crowds were all ready leaving, which meant it was going to be impossible to grab a taxi, or find a spot on a bus!
I put my camera in my camera case and held on to my pouch as we ran to grab a bus.
People in China don't show kindness at all when it comes to vehicles, they only show strength and swiftness, so, me and Lin did the same as well, and for only a couple minutes I let go of my pouch and case and let it hang to my side as I pushed my way through the people onto the bus, which was already crowded before we got on. When I was finally able to get on, pay for the ride and reach a line in the middle of the bus, we had all ready gotten to the next stop. I held on once again to my things. I felt emptiness in the camera case. I felt like a rock throne into the ocean and I would never stop sinking to the bottom. I yelled to Linn with hope that she could do something for me, but even if she decided to help me look for my camera, it would already be too late.
In this country, no body asks around to see if they dropped something, they just pick it right up and put it in their own pocket, but I still looked at everyone hoping that if they saw how worried I was, they would reveal it and give it back to me, but that was false hope. So, as I kept on sinking, I thought about what I was going to tell my parents. I rehearsed my actions and speech the whole ride home, then I would imagine what my family was going to say. Of course, I knew they would be disappointed, but the great thing about my parents is that they always accepted reality. I always wondered what they really thought once I told them. I still wonder if there was any secret anger towards me in their minds, but the moment I called them and told them I heard what I expected. Mom said, "Oh, darn, well it happens and your just going to have to learn from the mistake of the fact that you didn't keep your things in better check." My dad said the same thing but it didn't make me feel any better, so I started to look towards the good things that happened from all of this. When I got the camera wet, I got it all on tape, which was kind of funny, therefore, because it was soaked with water, I took the battery out and the card, so the person that took it wouldn't be able to use it anyway.
The case wasn't mainly for this camera, it was just a small case my dad gave to me, and it didn't fit perfectly, but it shut completely. I always made sure it was shut tight, but because it shut with Velcro, it would have been easy to just rip it open and let it fall out, so I know I hadn't dropped it, someone pick pocketed me!
But pictures don't tell the details of life, they only tell the details of what life physically looks like. If you want to know where I am and where I have been, reading about it is the best solution.
Not even writing about myself will reveal the details of my life, it only gives you a small bit of knowledge about it because I can't express the amazement I have experienced and the many beautiful sights I have seen, but keep reading, because these small details can fill a whole book, and it's worth it to know as much as can be written.
Mat
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