Shopping!

I went shopping today. In America this would not be a big deal. In China it was, as always, an overwhelming, though rewarding experience.

Lora, Cathy, and I went to the Fabric Market this morning with two students. (And just so you know, it's October Holiday this week so we don't have classes. We weren't being bad teachers/students by cutting!). I went into the day not really knowing what to expect, but I must have been expecting something because when we walked into this huge “mall” I had this feeling that my expectations were not met. This market/mall is a huge 4 story building crammed full of tiny shops. It's comparable to Silk Street or the Pearl Market in Beijing, though with a few less people and without the store owners yelling at you to buy things. Let's just say that the Pearl Market was not my cup of tea, so my shopping excitement level dropped a little. 

 

The Pearl Market in Beijing, taken from Google images

We meandered around with the vague hope of finding a teaching blouse or something. After passing shop after shop of shiny, ruffly, bow-bedecked shirts we gave up on the first floor and opted for what our students told us would be a less-crowded second floor. Then, as we stepped off the escalator, in front of us was an actual store (rather than the room/stalls). And, the store was selling winter coats! It was my original dream for the day to find a winter coat! My student told me this store sold a famous brand of coats in China. Their coats are filled with eiderdown. Hurray! A warm coat for a cold Harbin winter!

We walked into the store and I gravitated towards the rack of coats which interested me. The store clerk came over to look for my size. She pulled out a large. I tried it on. The sleeves were disappointingly short, and the coat was a little tight. Awesome. I was a sad giant standing in a store selling clothes made for incredibly tiny people. My coat dream was momentarily crushed. Then my students took me over to a different wall of coats to look for one which showed some promise of being big enough for me. We pulled a coat off the wall. It was a medium. “Uh-oh,” I thought. “No way that's going to fit!” I tried it on anyways, and ta-da! The sleeves were long enough! It was a little snug, though, so the clerk disappeared behind a curtain and brought out an extra-large.

Let's just say I'm now the proud owner of an extra-large Chinafabulous coat!

 My new coat! Super fur!

After a stationery excursion we ate lunch in what is the equivalent of a food court. Except, instead of sub sandwiches, pizza, and McDonalds, it sells fast food versions of noodles, fried dumplings, and rice dishes. It was so crowded we had to share a table with another family and buy food in turns so we wouldn't lose our place to sit. After two months in China, being constantly surrounded by hundreds of people seems normal.

Lora and Cathy wanted to look into buying new bedding (since some of the bedding left over was a bit old, dusty, and not too attractive). So post-lunch we decided to go find a place that makes comforters and duvets. We walked through aisles of curtains and fabric and settled on a shop. After a lot of back-and-forth, Lora decided to have a comforter and duvet made at the shop. She settled on batting, fabric for the comforter, and fabric for a duvet. Then over the next 20 minutes we watched these two women cut and make her new blanket. It was awesome, and it looks so beautiful!

We decided to make one last adventure through the market. In packing for China I made the huge oversight of not bringing a purse actually large enough to hold more than a wallet. My student and I traveled through tiny stall after stall of purses where I discovered that I hate making decisions about buying things. I finally settled on a purse that I liked. My student asked the shop owner the price. I heard “ba shi wu”, 85 yuan. Much more than I was willing to pay. What then ensued was 5 minutes of arguing back and forth between my student and the shop owner over the price. I had almost no idea what was going on except for the occasional number I heard tossed around. The bartering process would probably be difficult for me in English, but in Chinese, I can barely keep my wits together. I was preparing myself for walking out of the tiny store to begin the frustrating search for a purse anew. However, then my student told me the price she had bartered down to and I willingly paid. So I'm now the proud owner of a Chinese purse! Woo hoo!

Modeling my coat and purse!

And that's Lora's new bedding in the background! 

Overall, it was a successful, yet exhausting morning/afternoon. It made me realize, once again, that I am so grateful for students who are willing to spend this kind of time with us, because I could not possibly have been able to do anything I did today without them.

p.s. Update on the last blog. I was going to the dining hall the day after I met with my non-English speaking Chinese friends. As I was walking by the first dining hall I heard people yelling hello. It was these same friends. They were with some school group. I was informed through some effort that they wanted me to write things down on a sticky note about “culture”, so I wrote something about good Chinese food, and warm people. They were super excited. That, apparently, was the activity they were trying to tell me about. Okay, okay. :)