Yes I know I seem to be over indulging my shoe addiction but it's only cause I can't resist... And don't worry I'm not jumping ship... sneakers forever! Seriously, this new pair is THE ONE... very fancy and very comfy... just love 'em!
Yesterday, I wandered in the Zhongguancun shopping centre and actually found out it was much much much bigger than I thought... Seriously, it's massive! All underground with very long corridors full of shops. They even have thematic mini-malls inside like "Sports City" that gathers all major sports brands. Can you believe I actually went in there quite confident I would find a good auld pair of sneakers but couldn't find one! :(
Tonight I went to Carrefour (again!) to buy some food for the week... It was crazy busy as usual but I managed to find Conchiglie pasta and some pesto sauce... yummy! Industrial pesto will never be as good as Colm's though! I also tried to buy some meat but got grossed out by the smell! Next time I'll go there, I'll make a video out of this experience!
Some shopping rules:
- if something is part of the "New Arrival", there is a discount... which is weird cause in Europe, anything that belongs to the new collection is usually more expensive!
- some shops don't have tills and they will give you a receipt that you have to bring to a desk where they take your money
- if a shop assistant starts breathing down your neck, just leave unless you're able to stand it
- if a shop assistant starts following you everywhere you go and shows you stuff that you might like, just leave or ask if they have it in a different colour
- never buy any food that you can't identify properly
- never buy food that doesn't have cooking instructions in English
- never buy food that is still moving unless it's fresh lobster!
- if you have no clue what people are telling you, just nod and smile... remember, nod and smile :)
I think it's time for you guys to learn some Chinese and pretend you'd be able to get around if you were in China... forget your English, practice how to point at stuff, be patient, smile a lot, laugh a lot and most importantly, try to remember the pronunciation... it's basically the same rule that applies for "beach" and "bi*ch". For instance, let's take the word "MA"...
- mā = mother/ mum
- mā = to wipe/ clean
- mā = duplicate/ multiplied item
- mǎ = horse
- mǎ = morphine
- mǎ = turns an affirmation into a question when put at the end of the sentence
I guess you get a good picture now of my daily struggle :)
My survival Chinese skills:
* nǐ hǎo = hello
* xiè xiè = thank you
* zài jiàn = bye bye
* qǐng = please
* duì buqǐ = excuse-me
* wǒ = I
* yào = need
* xiǎng yào = would like/ want
* zhège = this
* nàge = that
* qù = to go
* zuǒ zhuǎn = turn left
* zuǒ guǎi = turn left
* yòu zhuǎn= turn right
* yòu guǎi = turn right
* diào tóu = U-turn
* zǒu fù lù = take the service road
* fā piào = receipt
* fàn guǎn = restaurant
* jiǔ bā = bar/ pub
* jiǔ diàn = bar/ pub
* pí jiǔ = beer
That's it for your first lesson! As you can see, I can order pretty much anything I want as long as I can point at it and I can take taxis to drive me around!!!
Next lesson, how to bargain... yeah right!
1 comment:
Great shoes, I am all in favour of posting shoe pictures and I hope to present a new pair very soon too. Pictres of Amelie are of course always welcome too!
Post a Comment