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Published: October 12th 2006
lots of meat
notice the hanging meats and the meats on the shelvesI do like to own things. Linell and Dai joke about me. Even back in college, Linell says, I liked things. So we went shopping, first at the Metro, a warehouse club store, then later at the BuBuBu, a textile store. I had a great time. Alas, now I have fewer funds.
The Metro is great. You can buy all the Chinese things you want, food, towels, electric equipment, gadgets, dishes, you name it. It’s like a Sam’s Club, or a CostCo in the States. You can also buy international foods, so I got spaghetti and sauce, Edam cheese, salami and coffee. I bought some Chinese wine, which I read in
China Daily is being exported now and is also available in a lot of duty-free shops. (Although, I don’t know how often you get to duty-free shops. They are considered the home of luxury products. I bought Chanel #5 Perfume and Mexican Cointreau the last time I was in one.)
Both Linell and I needed drinking glasses. I needed 4-6 place settings (a soup bowl, a small plate, a rice bowl, a glass and chopsticks) in my kitchen for guests. Linell has been
here long enough to have broken glasses and she needed replacements. Metro had an aisle of glasses to choose from.
Look at the pictures below of the fresh foods, etc. My biggest expense was long underwear. I’ve been told repeatedly that I’m going to need some. (It’s still so hot and humid here that I’m wearing short sleeve shirts and mopping my face, discreetly. The leaves are falling, but they get swept up so fast, it doesn’t feel like fall to me yet.)
We were tired and hungry after the shopping, so we bought Chinese pizzas right out of the oven and sat on the patio displays out front to eat them. I should have taken a picture of the big, blue, Metro bags full of goodies that we carried out of the store. We took two buses there but had to take a taxi home.
The Bububu The Bububu is a fabric store. I loved it. (I used to love going to the discount fabric store in the old Lindbergh Plaza in Atlanta.) It’s beautiful silks, wools, brocades, cottons, etc. There are tailors connected with the store, too. As we looked around, one of the tailors
Which plug is best
Dai and Linell discussing electric plugs. came up to talk with us. He knew some English. (For some reason, people always try their English on me
--sarcasm.)
He took us to the design books. I wanted a wool suit, so I found a suit design I liked, showed it to him. He came back with some fabrics. I picked one out; we talked about the design; and then we negotiated. I am getting the suit for $80. I go tomorrow for the first fitting (Friday the 13th). The tailor keep telling us the suit was worth a lot more. Later I picked out some travel material and was fitted for two long-sleeve tops. If all goes well tomorrow, I’ll go for 2 silk blouses and 2 cotton ones and a pair of washable pants. (You may realize by now that I brought very few clothes. My suitcases were full of lots of other things besides clothes.) Luckily, I have a washer and have been washing clothes every 2-3 days.
My last shopping trip was this evening at the convenience store across from the back gate. I got toilet paper, a plumber’s helper (plunger) , shelf milk, and Lays Original potato chips.
Another food Elaborate bacon
Yes, the description on the package is elaborate bacon. I didn't buy any, but I've been wondering ever since?!?! anecdote
For those of you who like the food stories, last night I wanted to eat spaghetti, from my stock of Metro foods. I was boiling the water in the rice cooker when I realized the sauce was in a can. That’s the first can I had to open. I never bought a can opener. Finally, I remembered my Swiss Army Knife. With that and my hammer, I got the can open. (I had to hammer the can opener into the can and then work it around the top.) Alas, the can opener on a Swiss army knife, is right-handed and I’m left-handed. That darn can took at least 30 minutes to open, but the spaghetti was pretty good. My next shopping trip will include buying a can opener for the other can of sauce.
As for Chinese food, I discovered that the school dining rooms have ‘dumplings’, those great steamed things like ravioli with fillings. I get 5 for 1 RMB, so I usually order 10. I’ve eaten them for three meals this week. (I think I’m on a carb binge with spaghetti and dumplings.)
More later. Live well and happy!
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Mary
non-member comment
I LOVE your blog! lol We are coming to Nanjing (hopefully) soon to adopt our 6 year old daughter. I'm loving all your descriptions of things!!! And, if you want anything brought to you from the US, let me know. I'd be more than happy to bring some things you might have forgotten. Mary ourblessedfamily@gmail.com