Day 7

July 3rd-tuesday
   I didn't really feel like waking up this morning. 

I was having one of those dreams where you wake up 

right before the end and you fit waking up because

 you want to know what happens. But after a few 

minutes I gave in. Breakfast this morning was 

probably the best we've had so far. It was very 

American. I had and egg, banana, rice, bread, 

dumplings....I don't know button was GOOD. After 

breakfast Tessa and I ran to the bank so she could

 get money and then we were off. Our first stop 

of the morning was to shanghi's famous Buddha 

temple. It was some Buddhist holiday so there were

 a ton of people burning incense. It was very smelly.

 The Buddha was pretty cool...but I just kept 

thinking about the passage in Ezekiel where god 

says his people took the precious stones he gave 

them and turned them into idols and worshiped them.

 I admire those people's search but I wish they 

might see there is more than what they have found. 
After the Buddhist temple we went to a silk factory.

 Watching the people make silk was very interesting.

 At first we thought the store was just bedding, 

but then we got out into the main part and there 

was a ton more. Scarves, cloths, fans...everything.

 I found a present for my grandpa!l and one for my 

other grandparents.
We went to have lunch after the silk factory but 

I wasn't hungers so a few of us went to Starbucks

 just for a drink. Yoko came with us. I ended up 

spending over and hour talking with her about china,

 the language, the customs, the government and 

politics....everything! It spur praised me how open

 she was with me...even when it came to discussing

 communism. It wasnt that she came outright and 

said she disliked or liked it, but the way she 

talked about it made sense. Not that I agree with 

communism now, but I understand much better how 

china works. "[the one child policy] is not just 

for our own good, but for the good of the whole 

world." -yoko I loved it.
Next we went to the Yu Yan gardens. I realized 

as we were walking in that I hadnt taken really 

as many pictures this trip as I meant to so I 

started taking a bunch of everything. The gardens

 really were beautiful. I kept imagining myself 

     living there. To be able to study in loves 

gardens and contemplate life and the 

world....a dream!!Our tour ended too quickly. 

After we exited we were in a bazaar where 

I spent my very last money.My timing was 

excellent if I do say so myself. I got

 everything I wanted and I got gifts for all

 of my peeps. Then Emily and I chilled at

 Starbucks.We ended up walking around 

for a while longer andthen finally my last

 bargaining china shopping 

experience was over. After, we went to the bund 

which is like the water front and walked around.it

 was very cool. Next was dinner.
When we arrived back at the hotel a few us us had

 decided to take the extra boat ride so we rested 

for an hour (I showered and changed) and then headed

 back down to the Bund to see Shanghi at night.Halfway

through the tour it started raining and thundering and 

there was lightning. It was really intense! 

There was a Korean boy (30) on the boat that Mitch 

and I started to talk to. Then all of a sudden there

 were like 20 Korean people surrounding him wanting

 his picture (all girls). After a minute they noticed

 me too and so they all started grabbing me and 

pulling me into pictures. I got pictures with the

     boys, girls, kids, and older people on the boat 

haha. At one point they were having Mitch Kidd the

 girls for the pictures and I was teasing him about

 it but one of the girls must have tight that I was

 his girlfriend because she came over and bowed to

 me and (I assume) apologized. After the pictures

 died down a little we began talking to the one 

Korean boy again. Another guy came Ito listen. He 

was wearing this light-up-bow head band like most 

of them were and I told him I liked it. He told m 

he liked me too.vi told him thanks but I meant I 

liked his BOW * louder and he said..."oh! Here you take, you take. It rocked.

 Mitch and I also got into an argument in front of all of the boys about

 his age and I think it entertained them a ton. At the end of the night 

the more modest boy who only asked for my picture once was my favorite. 

He was GORGEOUS. Oh ya.....the tour was cool too. :)When we got back to the 

hotel everyone was freaking out because these Beats they got were illegally

 made and parts were fake. I didn't care; I was still thinking about the 

boat tour. But then we all went to my room and Mitch told us a ghost story. 

That ended our friendship right then and there. I HATE being scared and that 

story freaked me out.