Maybe It's Me

Perhaps it is just my imagination, but lately almost all of my shopping trips seem to be littered with confusion and delay (yes, I've been watching too much Thomas the Tank Engine).  Today was no exception.

Last night I did manage to get to bed early which was good since both kids got up in the wee hours.  They weren't long going back to sleep but we ended up with Ryan in bed with me and Tim in Nick's bed.  I woke up around 3am and noticed Ryan was lying perpendicular to me but I just figured he was too warm under the blankets and left him alone.  I went back to sleep and soon awoke to a loud thud.  He had pushed himself right off the bed onto the floor.  Luckily the beds here aren't too high so I just scooped him up, kissed his arm to make it better and soon he was sound asleep again.

We managed to sleep until eight so I felt confident that we were all rested enough for another shopping trip.  When we left the apartment I had three goals for the day.  First, I wanted to buy a dryer.  Second, an iPod Touch so I can have a translator, music in the apartment and something to distract the kids with when I want them to be quiet.  Third, if the kids behaved themselves while I accomplished the first two goals, I would take them to a toy store for a new toy.  Our shipment is still three to four weeks away (that's my estimate so it'll probably be longer) and they don't have much to play with when we are stuck inside.

Mr You met us at the gate at the time I had texted and asked him.  For some strange reason he called me an hour before and started staying "Venice, shui" or something.  I quickly got my ereader out and looked up the word for "hour" and told him "one hour".  "Okay, okay, okay" was the response so I figure he understood.  When we got in the van I used our taxi book to tell him we wanted to go to Gome, a large appliance store, and showed him the address.  He nodded like he knew the place and off we went.  After about a half hour I noticed the store on our right and said to the kids, "That's where we're going, Gome".  Mr You was looking all around and then turned right just after the store so I figured he was looking for parking.  He drove for a minute then stopped, got out of the van and started talking to someone.  He got back in the van and drove on down another street, then another, then got out again and started talking to someone.  I realized at this point that he hadn't seen the store when I had and was trying to get directions to it.  The second person he asked pointed him in the right direction, but since it was on a very busy street we weren't able to just drive straight to it but instead had to go up and down several other streets to get back to it.  Half an hour after we first drove by the store we were back and ready to go shopping.  Unfortunately during that half hour Ryan decided to be a brat and kept taking his shoes and socks off and just being a royal pain in the butt so I was slightly perturbed at both him and Mr You when I got out of the van.

I told Mr You we'd be about two hours and made it clear that we would meet him back at the same spot that he dropped us off (I learned that lesson on Saturday at YooHoo).  We walked into the store right into the cellphone section so I asked about the iPod Touch.  A clerk pointed to what I thought was upstairs so we headed up the escalator.  I never did find the Apple product section (even though there is a Gome store advertisement in our elevator that shows them) but we did make our way to the washer and dryer area.  Now, washers here are very common and popular so there are many different brands and options to choose from and they are quite inexpensive.  Dryers are another story.  There were only three models to choose from and two of them were so small that I would have had to dry each bedsheet separately (and perhaps cut it into little pieces to fit it in).  When we were on our way up the escalator a man in a suit who worked there spoke to us in broken English and accompanied us while we looked at the dryers (I actually think he spied us when we walked in and followed us with dollar signs in his eyes).  He spoke to one of the six lady employees that had gathered around us about the price for the dryer that I wanted, the biggest one there but just normal size by Canadian standards.  It had a price of about 10,700RMB but the lady said we could have it for 10,000RMB (about $1,500Can!).  Tim had warned me that they were pricey but I had looked at the store's website and saw an "American Price" of about $650 so I was prepared to negotiate to somewhere around that.  Fat chance!  When I said it was too much they quickly led me to one of the dainty little dryers and told me that was what I needed.  When I said no they showed me another that looked exactly the same but was a few hundred dollars cheaper.  I tried to get them to come down on the big one but I could tell it was no use, I had made up my mind about how much I wanted to pay and what size.  I thanked them and decided to continue looking for the iPod.  We headed up one more escalator with the fancy suit guy following us and discovered the television floor.  Since they were showing a Mater and McQueen movie we sat down and watched for a bit while I tried to talk myself into paying more for the dryer.  That didn't work so finally I dragged the kids back down six escalators and out of the store - sans dryer and iPod. 

We still had almost two hours until Mr You was going to pick us up and while we had been driving around for that half hour looking for the Gome store I noticed a Subway (the sandwich store) sign.  I knew it wasn't too far so we set off down the street to have a familiar lunch.  After lots of stares, smiles and attempted touching of the children we made it to a mall that housed the Subway and as we entered the mall I noticed a sign advertising iPods.  Cool!  Ordering at Subway was surprisingly easy and the meal was quite good.  The kids had turkey subs, chips, cookies and pop (oh, the nutrition!) and I had a tuna salad and pop.  The total order came to about $12Can.  Not too bad at all!  I found everything tasted exactly the same although Nick thought the mayo was a little different.  Anyway, we enjoyed our lunch.

After this we started up the escalators looking for the iPods.  At the top of each escalator they have signs showing what merchandise is on that floor and we were all the way to the sixth and final floor when we saw the childrens' area and digital products.  We checked out the toys and even though Ryan wasn't being the little angel he usually is (a little sarcasm here), Nick was being excellent so I decided they deserved to get something.  After a lot of cooing and monitoring from the sales ladies Nick decided on a Lightning McQueen car and Ryan chose a very expensive, very large construction toy.  I helped Ryan reconsider his choice and he ended up with a very small, less expensive excavator and dump truck set.  On the way to the checkout counter I stopped by the digital product section which was just one counter of cellphones and asked about the iPod.  I was told to go down to the first floor.  We paid for the toys and made our way back down six escalators to the first floor and, hooray, the Apple Store.  It was quite busy but I managed to track down an employee and showed him exactly what I wanted to buy.  No sales tactics required.  He wrote up the slip and I gave him my Scotiabank Visa card.  He looked at me like I had three heads and took off with my card to the checkout.  He disappeared from there and, finally, ten minutes later, returned to tell me he had to check the "family" (I think his English was a little off here).  He left again and finally came back to tell me that he was sorry but they could accept my card.  Argh!

I left the store and dragged the kids back to our meeting spot.  To say I was disappointed would be puting it mildly.  Luckily Mr You was waiting for us where he was supposed to and we took off again.  I was ready to give up and go home but some stubborn little part of me refused.  I was not going to waste a shopping trip getting only one of three goals accomplished.  Especially when the third one hinged on the first two being completed successfully.  If I wasn't going to get my dryer, I would damn well get my iPod.  I got out my taxi book and showed Mr You the page with the "computer street".  This whole street is devoted almost entirely to electronics and I figured I would have to be able to get it there.

While we drove I was babbling to Nick about the Apple Store and wondered if they actually called the company Apple in China.  Back in Canada, when I was doing my online language course one of the words I heard over and over was "ping guo" or apple.  So I said "ping guo" followed by the Chinese word for store and Mr You perked up.  He repeated it and I showed him my cell phone and said it again.  I could almost see the lightbulb come on inside his head and I knew he knew what I wanted.  A glimmer of hope!

We drove on and he turned into a parking garage and tried to get in but the ticket machine wouldn't work.  We had to wait for an attendant to come and when he couldn't fix it he finally gave us a different ticket.  We only had so much time to do all of our shopping and then Tim would have to be picked up at work then off to an appointment so every delay was adding to the stress.  We parked the van and thankfully Mr You decided to come with us to help me find the Apple store.  We were told to go up to the fourth floor and when we did we found a guy selling iPhones and iPads, but no iPods.  He directed us back down to the second floor where we found a booth that had iPods.  I quickly negotiated a price (quite a bit better than the one at the mall where they wouldn't take my Visa card) and the lady took the iPod and case I had chosen and motioned for us to follow her down the escalator to the first floor to pay.  We got to the checkout and I handed them my visa card.  The woman swiped it and handed me a pinpad.  The writing was all in Chinese but I entered my pin and gave it back to her.  It didn't work so she tried again and this time I pressed a few more buttons and got something weird so I gave it back and again she swiped the card and handed it to me.  I shrugged because I didn't know what else to do and Mr You started spouting off numbers, trying to tell me to enter my pin.  I did it again and again it didn't work.   Oh the frustration!

They said they were sorry but that it wouldn't work.  I didn't have the card from our bank here in China so as a final effort I pulled out my Scotiabank debit card.  Three of them who were now waiting on me looked it over and did a lot of chattering.  One guy said "Chinese bank" and all of a sudden the lady clerk and Mr You headed for the door telling us to follow them.  Outside we went, with me carrying Ryan because he was too tired to walk and poor Nick, who didn't want to go into the store in the first place, dragging along beside me.  For several blocks we plodded along, the lady clerk still clutching the iPod and case and Mr You trying to help me by offering to take Ryan who wanted nothing to do with him.  Finally we came to the Bank of China and went inside.  Mr You took my card and asked if I could use it to get money and they directed us back outside to the ATM.  While we waited our turn a crowd started to form, none of the people actually wanting to use the machine, just there to observe the kids.  When I finally got my turn Ryan informed me he had to pee and both he and Nick were trying to press buttons while I attempted to read the instructions.  I finally got my money and we headed back to the store.  Along the way I spied a McDonald's so while I took the kids to pee, Mr You and the clerk waited outside.  I figured as long as we were there I should get the boys a treat.  Nicholas picked a McFlurry and Ryan insisted he only wanted a drink.  I ordered and paid and as soon as the ice cream appeared Ryan changed his mind and wanted the same as Nick.  At this point I was ready to hand him over to one of his admirers but figured I would likely get in trouble for that so instead I just bought him the damn ice cream so we could move on.

We finally made it back to store and as I was counting out the money the clerk decided to try and sell me more stuff.  I thought she must be a little bit crazy for not trying to get rid of us but she probably figured that I would be an easy sell after all the trouble.  I declined anything else and we finally completed the purchase.  From here we made our way back to the parking garage after roaming around looking for an elevator and waiting a long time for one.  Soon, we were on our way home just in time for Mr You to get to Michelin to pick up Tim.

Having finally gotten the iPod I made up my mind that I can get along without the dryer.  When we got back to the apartment I got a few minutes to load the iPod up with a translator application and a couple games before the kids took it over.  I made supper, burgers and brown rice, and after eating the sloppy rice decided that now we need a rice steamer.  After supper we talked and Tim still thinks we should have the dryer even if it is a bit pricey.  We spoke to some other expats and they gave us the name of the person they bought their dryer from so on Saturday we will try again.  Perhaps we can get a better deal with less hassle.  At least if he comes with me our ratio of adults to children is a little more favorable than what it was today.

Well, that's the end of my long winded post.  As the day went on and I started to get more and more frustrated I just kept saying to myself, "At least I will have something to write about".  I hope my trials and tribulations have provided you with some comic relief. 

Here are some photos of our day (the better parts of it)!

Heading out

Burning off a little energy before we get in the van.

Nick with his new toy

The devil clutching my soul.  I mean - Ryan holding his new toy.