Personal Space

I have realized that I hate being touched. I knew this before I came to China but this country has really solidified it for me. The concept of personal space is non-existent in China, well that is probably a fallacy, I am sure that they know what it is but they do not abide by it. I also do not do well in large crowds of people so visiting these historical sites has been . . . an adventure to say the very least.

Today was one of the worst days we have had so far as amounts of people are concerned. We went to the French area of Shanghai which was really interesting. We had about an hour to walk around a hu-tong (I think I spelled that right . . .) and I bought a fabulous clutch with brass knuckles and skulls on it (picture in slideshow). After that we went to a very traditional Shanghai(ian?) restuarant and had a noodle lunch. It was delicious! Following lunch we went to another garden that was beautiful but it had many more people than the one yesterday did which made it obnoxious. There were more huge koi that were being fed by people, it was super entertaining. When I worked at Petsmart my favorite part of pet care was the ability to feed the koi because they always lose their minds.

After the garden we were able to walk around and do some more shopping in the area. The amount of people was insane. I believe I heard one of the ICB students saying that today was children's day and so it seemed that there was a mass group of children everywhere you turned, and we all know how much I just love children.

So far we have bid farewell to two of our students that had to leave early, one of them being my roommate Jourdan so I will be in my room alone for the duration of the trip. It should be interesting but I am sure that I will manage, I always do.

Till next time gentle readers . . .