Please check your Street Smarts at the door.

Sept. 17- Zach
So I'm always wandering the streets of Shanghai in a bit of a daze, with my camera, iPod, map, Chinese/English dictionary and cell phone at the ready. The other day I got a rude reminder that all big cities have a few universal rules. One of them is Don't Be Stupid. Basically, I was jammed onto a subway train and left my iPod and cell phone hanging out of the sidepocket, uncovered on my backpack. I've been doing this the entire time we've been in Shanghai. The people here have just been so darn friendly that my guard has been let down. Sure enough, I got smacked upside the head for it. Both my iPod and phone were stolen; I didn't even realize it for another few hours. Luckily it wasn't my wallet, so while it was a costly mistake, it wasn't devastating. I did feel very let down by the Shanghainese for the rest of the day, though. On an interesting side note, my chinese teacher blamed it on rural Chinese hicks, or Thai immigrants, who she claims are all a bunch of criminals. So discrimination is alive and well even over in this part of the world!