Adventures in grocery shopping!

Grocery shopping, we all do it. Well, there are those who can afford to hire someone to do it for them and those who just eat out all the time. I grocery shop, usually once a week, to buy food and other necessary (and not so necessary) items. I went just last night, to buy food, so I could cook something for dinner.

Grocery shopping here in China is the same as it is in the States; go to the grocery store, get a cart/basket, choose items and put in basket, pay cashier, carry bags of groceries home. I go to Walmart, yes, we have those here, and RT-Mart (Da Runfa, 大润发) usually. I do go to smaller shops sometimes, but I like the convenience of everything in one store, the one-stop shopping method.

Here is where the adventure comes in...

I am a foreigner, a Laowai 老外. I am like the animal in the zoo that everyone needs to look at, and is amazed by, because I am so different. As I shop and put things in my cart people watch me. Several times I have had people grab onto the side of my cart and survey what is in it! They will look at what's in my cart, then look at me... my cart... me... my cart... and this goes on for a few minutes. Once, an elderly man picked up the cheese that was in my basket so he could see it better! It's strange being analyzed like a specimen in a jar!

The contents of my grocery cart last night.

There are many name brands I am familiar with, for example, Hunts, Lay's, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Coffee Mate, Folgers, etc., etc. There are many National, Local, and International brands here in China that I have never seen before. Kewpie is a brand that I have started using because they have salad dressing, mayonnaise, jam / jelly, and pasta sauce. Then there are the food items that I am not familiar with or used to seeing in a grocery store. For instance, LIVE frogs, snails of various types, turtles, and eels! I am used to my meat being pre-packaged and not looking at me as I choose it! I completely understand why someone would be a vegetarian or vegan; having those creatures stare at me, while I'm potentially going to make dinner out of them, makes me feel sad and guilty. Just so you know, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan, never have been and never will be, so please don't try to convert me... I'll just continue to live in denial and buy my meat packaged. Thanks!

Ribbit!

Yikes!

You know the fish is fresh!

It takes me a long time to grocery shop, I don't understand Chinese characters so I have to closely survey packaging to figure out what it is, and how to use and prepare it. If packaging is in English, it's usually covered up with a sticker translating everything to Chinese. Once I was looking closely at a bag of oatmeal, I wanted instant, and I hear, "Hi! Can I help you?" It was a really nice high school girl asking me if she could help me, in perfect English. Her mom was so proud of her! She was standing there beaming about the fact that here daughter has a good future in International relations!

The store was quite empty last night, which was nice for a change, since everyone is on holiday for Spring Festival / Chinese New Year. I was able to go right up to the cashier and check out. As I walk up and start putting things on the conveyor belt, the cashier looks at me and starts saying something, rather loudly, to her coworkers. She was just so excited that this was the second time she was the one to check me out, she had to let everyone know! She told me last time, and this time again, that she had never seen the items I had chosen... really!?! Milk, bread, pork, Chinese greens, cabbage, corn, Coke, yogurt; just to name a few of the items I had. Last time I did have mayonnaise, jam, pasta sauce, pasta, and salad dressing; I do think these are more unusual items here in China.

Wine & Spirits

The bakery

The deli

Here are more pictures from my grocery shopping last night at RT-Mart. I like shopping there because they have a great selection of so many things.

A really nice produce section.

More expensive, cleaned & packaged items.

The meat department.

Yes, those are intestines!

Chicken feet in the deli department.

Yummy noodles!

Steamed buns & sticky rice.

Handy "to-go" meals, bread with meat inside.

The ones in the middle with egg on top are really good!

Crepe type things in the deli department. I bought one of those slices!

Sweeter choices in the deli department.

The bakery department.

Three of those chocolate donuts went into my cart!

Big, round sponge cake things.

Pastry chefs doing their thing!

Milk, flavored milk, fermented milk, and yogurt.

Single serving flavored milk drinks.

No refrigeration necessary milk.

Ham, sausages, lunch meat, and BBQ pork.

Milk Tea, the one in red I'm addicted to!

Eggs, there are many different types!

I must pay attention when I'm making my selection or I might get

something I didn't bargain for!

Wow, so many different kinds of eggs...

The shopping mall where RT-Mart is, isn't finished being built yet.

According to this sign, in September of this year, many more shops and restaurants will open up.

I'm excited about Starbucks, and Pizza Hut!

It's cold... why aren't you using your air conditioner?

Say what!?!

I like cold weather much more than I like the heat, I even like rain and snow. I am the type of person who will bundle up and spend an entire day out in the freezing cold and snow just to take pictures. We had cold weather here for a while and I complained some about being cold. It was a type of cold that I hadn't experienced before, it was a "wet cold", and it made my bones feel like ice cubes. What made it worse is that there is NO INDOOR HEATING here! No heat in the classrooms and no heat in my apartment. Only in Northern China is it standard to have indoor heat because it gets really, really cold there. I couldn't get warm, not even at home, and I was wearing layers and a big down coat all the time! My mom would laugh at me every time we Skyped because I was in my big down puffy coat with my hood on, and a scarf, and I was sitting on my sofa in the living room! It's hard to teach, and to cook, bundled up like that, and it's even harder taking a pee (especially on a "squatty potty")! I wasn't the only one complaining though; my coworkers would jump around and pound on their legs while whining that it was too cold.

I was asked several times whether I was running my air conditioning. Huh? Um...no, I turned it off after the weather started cooling down...would be my reply. Isn't an air conditioner for cooling the air when it's hot? That's what I thought it was for. I was told that running my air conditioner would dry out the air and make it warmer. I asked, "do I just turn it on and increase the temperature setting?" Yes, yes...just turn it on I was told. So, I ran the air conditioner...and was still freezing, but now also had a cold wind blowing on me! Ugh! I went out and bought an electric, plug-in heater that helped when I sat directly in front of it. It died after two weeks of continuous use, so I splurged on a larger, more expensive one that has been working good so far.

A man from the company that hired me, and placed me in the school where I'm at, came to visit for a couple of days. He used the office where I have my desk and computer, while he was here. After teaching my morning class one day, I went to my office to do some grading before my next class. I walked in and about passed out because it was so HOT in there! I asked him how he got heat, and he said he turned on the air conditioner. I was confused. I said that all I get is cold air from my air conditioner even though I increased the temperature setting. He asked if I changed the "mode" by pressing the mode button. Nope, I was told more than once to just turn it on, so that is what I did.

Just to make it clear, so I don't seem like a total idiot, everything on my air conditioning remote control is in Chinese characters...which I don't understand at all. I actually took my remote to work with me the next day to compare the characters and make sure I set the right "mode".

Now I get some warm air coming from my air conditioner, yay! I still wear a jacket at home when it's cold, because even with the warm air from my air conditioner and heat from my plug-in heater, the wet cold get's inside my bones and won't leave.

It has warmed up a bit and the weather has been really nice the past couple of weeks. My coworker has frightened me though...she keeps saying she is scared for it to be winter because it's going to get so cold we won't be able to hide from it. It's the beginning of February, maybe this nice weather is just a tease before the real cold sets in. I hope not!

My plug-in heater

The air conditioner

The remote control

The sights and sounds of Chinese New Year fireworks.

Here is a short video of the fireworks for Chinese New Year. This was taken around midnight, where I live in Lishui, China. Fireworks were going off all day on Chinese New Years Eve, but it was crazy for a few hours around midnight.... Enjoy!