So yesterday was crazy eventful. I woke up feeling much less jet lagged then before and with my back KILLING me. Here's the thing about the beds in China...they pretty much throw a little pillow top like thing on a thick hard pseudo-box spring. If I'm going to walk everywhere I'm going to need a functioning back...so in a few days I will try to find some memory foam or something, but for now a hot shower and lots of stretching will have to do.
This morning I was bound and determined to get several things on my list accomplished. I wanted to go eat at a restaurant and also find the Merry Mart again and get my computer adaptor so I can charge my laptop...the other thing on my list was bags. Since they don't really have plastic bags available it will be nice to have something to carry items home from the market in.
My walk back to Merry Mart was easy enough and I'm feeling as if I at least have that direction down well. I got to the entrance and noticed several fast food type restaurants that I could try out. I decided on a Chinese one and went in. Luckily they had pictures!!! The picture menus are the best! I decided on a 'combo' meal which included two different 'buns' and a hot drink. I ordered...the waitress asked me several things that I did not understand but eventually stopped asking. I paid (6 RMB...under a buck) and soon had my meal. The drink was hot and kind of like a coffee substitute (they are really not coffee drinkers here...although it can be found if you look hard enough). It was more like a horchata...but without the cinnamon and stuff. I'm pretty sure it was made out of rice. At any rate...it was really good. The first bun was delicions...it had beef inside! Yumm!!! The second one was less delicious but still edible...not a bad start to the day!
I head to Merry Mart and for some reason with a clear mind and some rest behind me the adaptors were quite easy to find...yes!! I can do this. Then off to bags. I'm really not having any luck when I begin to look in a section of school supply stuff. I find what I can only envision is something intended for middle school girls to carry...but will seemingly work perfect for me! They are little cloth bags with handles that can hold quite a bit of stuff. The only real drawback...they have some super girly stuff on the covers...Teddy Bears, Hearts, etc. I settled on three bags...two because they were black and the other because it was dark blue (you know...cough...manly colors). I'm sure everyone laughs at me when they see a grown man with those bags...but they are SOOO useful to me! So score another one for me! This morning is going great!
With my newfound bags I decide to purchase a few items including braving the 'deli stand' at the market. I call it the deli stand because that is the most common thing to compare it to in the states. However what you purchase there is more like buns or special breads. I purchased a few more mystery buns (still determined to try every flavor) and was on my way home. Quite a successful journey!!! After getting home I got on Skype (mornings here are evenings in the states) and found a couple friends online. My sister was on and I so needed to talk to someone from home so I connected with her.
Funny thing is she just kept knowing all this stuff I never expected her to know. After about 20 minutes I discovered it was actually my friend April from Denver, not my sister...lol. Had a good laugh about that one because of the detail I went into while describing some things that were probably pretty evident to someone who had lived in Japan forever. It was good to have a good laugh. So yes...the morning went...fantastically!
Later on that evening I decided to head back to Merry Mart with a new list of items and try to finish getting my little room equipped for really living. I needed several things to help me eat in my room (plates, forks, bowls, etc.) and some more groceries wouldn't hurt. I got there quickly and even found the quick entrance to the mart that lets me avoid going through several different department stores. I also got all of my goods and really loaded up since I had three bags now to carry them home. I'd had such a good day I was feeling quite good about myself and even found an ice cold pepsi for about 40 cents to celebrate.
But you know...once you start feeling good about yourself...there seems to always be a reminder that, hey...don't get cocky man. Well I had mine that night. The thing about this huge department/market is that it is hard (especially for me) to find the exit. The exit signs DO NOT lead you to the actual exit and the actual exits have these plastic coverings on them that in the states imply-DO NOT GO THROUGH HERE. But in China...that is where you are supposed to go through. So anyways, I'm feeling good and happy and content right...and I'm following people out to the exit...easy enough, follow the people. And then I stop and look at some prices on cell phones...ooooh pretty expensive...my mind wanders and I'm just kind of meandering out to the exit. I start leaving and the lady at the door who works for the market is suddenly VERY interested in me.
She is asking something. What? I don't know (said like the father character in My Big Fat Greek Wedding). Oh, she must want to see my receipt. Stupid American buys three bags of groceries...I get it. I show her my receipt. This seems to NOT help the situation. She starts talking louder and faster and louder and faster. The only thing I can make out is 'Tai Gui Lai' which I thought was Chinese phrase for too expensive. What? Is she telling me I paid too much for all this stuff? I don't get it. O.k. lady...maybe I should have bargained...I'm so bad at that...I always forget! But seriously, I'm tired I've had a long day I just want to go home...I don't want to go back and bargain. Maybe I'm stupid but I'm perfectly happy with the 200 RMB I spent for all of this stuff.
She does not back down. Finally her friend sitting behind her says (funny how you know some things people say even without really knowing what the words were) 'just let him go'. So I go. And within 20 seconds I realize why she was so adamant about whatever she was trying to communicate. I was not exiting the store...in fact I was on an escalator type thing...right back into the store. Oops. Once you are on this escalator there is no easy way back out. You have to go right back through and into the store. O.k. no problem...I go in and I try leaving. I go through a line and show the cashier my receipt. She is NOT happy and is clear that I will not be leaving the store through her line. O.k. attempt #2. I see a police officer. I go to him. I show him my receipt...he looks through everything...(I bought a lot of stuff too) and finally lets me go. I proceed back to the exact same spot and I arrive at the place with the lady. She is just standing there with her arm out pointing me in the other direction. Yes lady...I get it now. Would it have been so difficult to point before? Lol...I laugh about it now. But those are just the types of things that happen sometime when you just don't understand the language...oh well. Looking back it was all quite an experience with no harm done. I think the lady eventually even got a kick out of it.
Last thing...during my trip I purchased a pseudo ham sandwich. I didn't know what it was at the time. It came on a stick. It was kind of like philo dough on the stick with ham every inch or so and then cheese placed on top and melted on top...DELICIOUS!! MMM....another wonderful dish I would not mind eating again...so yeah...super successful day!!!
Wan an
Gary
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