My Shenyang Shopping Saga

When I mentioned that I needed to go shopping for some new clothes, Celine jumped at the chance to come with me.  She loves clothes, shoes and anything fashion related and in the short time that we have known each other I think she has figured out my 'style'.  Now I will let you in on the secret of my shopping success, which only works if I shop alone or with Tim.  I go into a store, try on several items and anything that I really like I put into a pile.  I usually narrow the pile down to one pair of pants, one shirt, one pair of shorts, etc., whatever I happen to be searching for on that particular day, usually something boring and simple.  Then I go back to the rack of the style I like and purchase one of every color that they have in my size.  This won't work if I'm with someone that loves clothes because they will get me to try on all sorts of things that are out of my comfort zone.  If they tell me it looks good, I will believe them, buy what they say I should, and perhaps never wear it.  This is why I usually shop alone or with Tim who supports my idea of buying all the same thing since it means he gets to spend less time in the store.

Since I am feeling better about myself, having lost some weight, I decided that going shopping with Celine would be good for my wardrobe although perhaps not our bank account.  She and her husband are having a barbecue/party this weekend and I was determined to have something new to wear to it.  Unfortunately the only time we could both go (after we got paid) was Thursday morning and we had to take the boys and Caroline with us.  She was all for taking them which gives you an idea of how much she wanted to be in on my outfit selection.  We headed out early and were at Tie Yuan Jie by 9:40 when the first stores opened.  She really wanted to go to H&M, a trendy store which I actually shopped at once when I lived in London, but they didn't open until ten so we browsed around another store first.  I can't remember the name of it but their 'mascot' is a big teddy bear.  The clothes were pretty nice, Celine said knock-offs of Ralph Lauren, but every item in the store, whether for women or men, had a picture of a teddy bear on it.  I checked out the men's section and was tempted to buy Tim a pink polo (pink is a very popular color for men here) with a cute teddy bear but questioned myself as to whether or not he would wear it.  In the end I decided it might be a waste of money.

By the time we were finished browsing in that store H&M was open.  We went in and I set Ryan down on a table and gave him his iPod.  Nick didn't want his as he was having fun playing with Caroline.  We grabbed a lot of clothes, shuffling the kids from one section of the store to another with Chinese people gawking, taking pictures and trying to touch the three kids, until we had a good pile and we went into the fitting room area.  The nice thing about going that early in the morning was that it wasn't busy and the boys were able to run from one room to another, playing hide and seek and not bothering anyone.  When they got tired of that Nick and I pulled out three stools from the fitting rooms and I set them up with a little picnic of peanut butter bars and juice packs.  They were having such a good time they didn't want to leave and asked if we were going to go to another store.  I was able to find two tops at H&M but no bottoms.  I am a little late in the season for getting summer stuff.

From here we moved on to a store called Zara which was a little crazier because they were having a sale.  Again I sat the boys down on a t-shirt table and Celine watched them while I did a quick look around the store.  I was gone about three minutes and when I came back Celine was on the phone and the four of them were surrounded by Chinese people.  We left that store in a hurry and went on to the same mall that has Rolex, Cartier, etc in it.  We stopped to look at the fountain that the boys love to see but quickly moved on to the shoe floor.  I was determined to at least get a pair shoes if not bottoms to go with the tops I had bought at H&M.  The way the mall is laid out here is very different from home.  On a 'shoe floor' there are sections upon sections of men's and ladies' shoes and you must stroll in and around them from one end of the floor to the other.  To do this I would take the boys into a section that looked promising and get them to sit on the benches with their iPods while I quickly scanned for something I thought I would like.  When I didn't find anything I would get them up, usually saving them from the Chinese salesladies, and repeat the process, again and again.  Meanwhile, Celine stopped at a section and when I saw her a few minutes later, she had purchased a nice pair of black patent leather pumps.  After searching the entire floor I had found one pair of sandals that would have been okay except that they didn't have my size.  Well, what I thought was my size.  They use European sizing here so by comparing my foot to Celine's, we decided I was about a 40.  They had nothing higher than a 37.

It was now getting close to lunchtime and I knew the boys were reaching the point where they had had just about enough.  They did really well but I can't shop under pressure.  Celine wanted to go check out another shoe store so while she did I took Nick and Ryan back to the fountain for a few minutes.  I had told them that if they behaved while we shopped I would get them an ice cream at KFC which we had seen outside on the pedestrian street.  We stopped at the bathroom, left the mall and headed toward the restaurant.  I was in a hurry now because Celine had called saying she couldn't find the shoe store and was waiting for us outside.  I walked into KFC and up to the counter, which had no chicken on the menu.  The woman behind the counter pointed upstairs so I thought that perhaps there would be another counter up there.  I dragged the kids up the stairs, noticing on the way a man carrying a tray with three bowls of noodles on it.  It wasn't until we got to the top and saw only tables that I remembered the picture on the door of the restaurant looked like this:

And not this:

The restaurant we were in was, in fact, Mr. Lee's, a popular fast food noodle house here in China.  Oops!  We made a quick exit and ran up the street to the real KFC.  I quickly got the kids' ice cream and went to meet Celine and Caroline.  We decided it was time to call it quits and that shopping with little boys, even when they are well behaved, is not a treat for anyone.  Celine would have continued but I knew it wouldn't be long before the whining and crying started - me, not the boys.

On the drive home I made up my mind that I would again go shopping in the evening once Tim was home from work.  Celine wasn't able to go so I would be on my own.  I made lunch for myself and the boys then we chilled out in the air conditioning while waiting for Tim to get home.  For supper I cooked up an awesome batch of noodles and took some with me to give to Tian Ye since he wasn't going to be going home for supper.  When Tim got off the elevator, I was standing there ready to get on.  I didn't want to waste any time.

Tian Ye dropped me off at the mall and I got right to work.  Yes, it was work for me.  I looked around for a while in the department store without finding any nice clothing places.  I did find the lingerie section and decided it was time for me to look for a bra in China.  For the guys that may not realize, when a woman loses weight, she loses it everywhere and it's possible that bras no longer fit properly.  (Remember that next time you think that your wife/girlfriend could stand to lose a few pounds!  Unfortunately it's often the first place I lose it and the last place I gain it.)  Sizing for bras is also different here in China and I was told that I likely wouldn't be able to get anything larger than a 34B.  I found that hard to believe though since lots of women here are larger than that, although perhaps that''s a recent phenomenon - since the fast food chains have arrived.  Anyway, I took the plunge and decided to finally try something on.  I grabbed a bra that I thought would fit and asked to try it.  The saleslady led me into a tiny fitting room and, as I suspected, it didn't fit.  It did, however, give me at least an idea of what size I might be.  I looked on the rack and didn't see anything so I moved on to the next little section of lingerie.  I looked again and, not finding anything bigger than what I had already tried, I decided I would be brave and ask the saleslady in this section.  The problem with trying to ask a question here is that it usually attracts a lot of attention from all the other salespeople who are milling around with nothing to do.  You really wouldn't believe how many of them there are standing around.  As you walk from section to section you pick up a salesperson who follows you while you are in their 'area' then as you walk away you drop them and pick up another.  They are like insects that will only stray so far from their nests in search of prey before turning back.  But I digress.  I asked the saleslady, in my best Chinese, for a particular size which I thought would fit me.  She surprised me by answering "Nooooo" in a very loud, annoyed voice, as if I had just asked her if I could pee on the floor.  I said "Thank you" as sarcastically as I could manage in my fragile state and walked away, ready to give up on my shopping.  It's difficult enough trying to find something when you speak the native language but when you don't know your size, are alone and can only imagine what the rude salespeople are saying about you, it's downright depressing.  I considered calling Tian Ye to come and get me but I had asked him to go to IKEA while I shopped to buy us some more dark chocolate bars.  IKEA is a fair distance from the mall I was at and at this point I didn't want to chance not getting the bars - I needed a big chocolate hug.

I left the department store dragging my dignity behind me and ventured out into the mall, hoping to find some friendlier people.  I entered a very small store that had only black, grey and white clothes.  A perfect fit for my mood.  The lady that worked there was young and seemed nicer so I started searching through the racks for a skirt.  I found a couple that I liked and thought would fit so I asked to try them on.  I was standing at the back of the store by the counter and the woman said something and just sort of looked at me.  I pointed to a door, thinking it was the fitting room, but when she opened the door it was just a broom closet and a very small one at that.  She indicated that I would have to try them on right there in the store.  Really?  Is this really happening?  You've got to be kidding.  I know this is China, but c'mon.  No?  Okay.  Fine.  Give me the damn skirt.  I unzipped it, slid it over my shorts then, with great clumsiness, was able to remove said shorts and get the skirt zipped back up.  Low and behold, it fit!  And felt good.  And looked good.  I started to feel a little better.  I quickly scanned the racks and pulled out almost every skirt I could find in my size with the saleslady actually helping me.  The next one I put on I did the same way as the first, one over top of the other and a lot of pulling and huffing and puffing.  After that, I just did really quick changes.  Luckily the store wasn't busy and by the end of it I was even trying on tops.  I was able to find four skirts, three black and one white, although I wasn't too sure about the white one.  They are a little on the short side, but I'm not dead yet.  I can relive my teenage years if I feel like it.  The good thing is that the four skirts averaged only $15 each so if I end up not wearing one or two, I haven't wasted too much money.

Once I had decided on the four skirts I still had to pay for them.  I thought I would be paying right in the store, but alas, my friendly little salesgirl started writing up the slips for me to go pay somewhere else.  I waited patiently then she took me to the door and pointed me in the direction of the cashier.  I walked down the mall a bit, past a drink bar/cafe and around a corner.  I couldn't see anyone who looked like they were ready to take my money so I stopped at a table where two ladies were selling sunglasses.  I showed them the slips and one of them was kind enough to take me back to the juice bar where I was supposed to pay.  Of course.  Why wouldn't you pay for skirts at a juice bar?

With my purchases in hand I had found a little life inside me and went in search of shoes.  I located a sale area with hundreds of shoes and lots of people looking at them.  I browsed around and finally asked about one pair.  Shockingly, they only had smaller sizes.  I figured this was likely a waste of precious time so I went back into the dreaded department store, this time to the shoe floor but only after visiting the children's section for a few minutes.  Earlier this week when we were going out Ryan decided he wanted to wear a button-up dress shirt, the same one I had tried to get him to wear last week to no avail.  Once Nicholas saw his cool top with the Chinese dragon on it (a shirt Mom had purchased at Louis' a couple years ago) he decided he wanted one of those too instead of the ugly, old Mario shirt he had on.  I told him that he didn't have any nice shirts anymore because he wouldn't wear the one's I bought him.  He assured me he would wear one now and I told him that he would have a new button-up shirt for Celine's party on Saturday night.  I found one that I thought he would like and learned something else in the process.  When I purchased the skirts, the price was less than it should have been had I added up the tags.  I figured this particular store was just selling older items or was having a sale.  However, this was not the case.  Iin China, the price that is written on the tag, is almost always NOT the actual price of the item.  The shirt ended up being half of what I thought it would be.  This was nice but would have been a good thing to know earlier when I had decided not to try things on because they were too expensive.

After purchasing the shirt I resumed my search for shoes.  I looked and looked and only stopped to try something on when I came across another nice, young salesgirl.  She was sweating as much as I was (it was really hot in there) and tried to speak English to me.  I asked about a couple pairs of shoes and told her what size I thought I was.  She said their shoes didn't go that high but then took me over to another booth, one especially for sasquatches like me.  The two ladies there tried to find me something in their limited selection but it was useless.  I gave up on finding shoes and called Tian Ye, asking him to come and get me at nine.  He said he was already there waiting so I told him I wouldn't be too much longer.  I started to make my way out but got side tracked when I found more stores.  I ended up trying on a very Chinesey top that was nice but not well made.  I thought of Celine's seamstress and knew that she could make something that would be better quality and less money.  I also tried on a pair of capris after a lot of fiddling around by several salesladies to get a pair that they thought would fit.  I didn't care for them though, again quite pricey for the quality.  By this time the stores were closing so I made my way out to the van.  Tian Ye was waiting patiently and thanked me for the supper.  I guess he enjoyed it since he ate the whole thing.  He also made it to IKEA and on the drive home I put my feet up on the front seat, laid back and ate dark chocolate.  I was exhausted. When I got home I talked to Mom on Skype and modeled my new clothes for her and Tim then went to bed. It was a long day.

For the second night in a row, both boys slept through and didn't get up until almost seven this morning.  We have discovered that if we get Ryan up to pee before we go to bed, he seems to be able to make it all night without waking up.  We will try it again tonight.

Since I had a little more energy this morning I got the boys ready and pulled them in the wagon up to Happy City.  I wanted to tire them out so I could shop for shoes in the Carrefour mall.  It worked and once they were done playing they sat in the wagon and watched their iPods while I found myself two pairs of pretty sandal type shoes.  They just fit and could stand to be a size or two larger, but they will do for now.  From here we stopped at a little clothing store where I found another white skirt, a nice long one, and a blue top.   Then we went into Carrefour to the clothing section and I had a look at the bras.  I found the size I had asked the mean, old saleslady about (apparently it's not totally unheard of here!) and even found a fitting room to try a couple on.  One of them fit nicely and was very reasonably priced so I decided to buy it.  I picked up the groceries we needed and proceeded to the checkout.  When I got there and everything loaded onto the counter the cashier took the bra and looked it over.  No tag.  Damn it.  As I may have mentioned before, when you try to buy something here that doesn't have a tag they don't rush off to find a replacement nor do they attempt to call someone else to find it.  Instead they either throw it under their counter and forget about it, or they stand there holding it, waiting for you to indicate whether or not you want the item badly enough that you will go get it yourself.  I waved it off and told her to forget it.  There was no way I was going to drag the wagon with two boys and all my groceries back up the escalators to find another bra.  We paid and made our way to the sushi takeout - my favorite place to eat in Shenyang.  We grabbed some snacks and headed down the second escalator and back into the mall.

As we made our way through the mall we came across the lingerie store.  I stopped and debated going in.  I turned to Nicholas who was pulling the wagon with Ryan inside and said, "Do you think you guys can wait for a minute while I look for a bra?  Or maybe I should just forget it and come back another time."  To this Nicholas responded, "It's okay, Mommy.  You can go look for your bra.  We'll wait."  How sweet is that?  He is such a considerate kid.  He even saved the last piece of sushi for me saying "I know it's your favorite so you should have it".  I did try on a couple bras but they didn't fit well and were three times the price of the Carrefour one.  I gave up on that idea and we made a quick dash for home.  It was incredibly hot and humid today.  And every other day this week for that matter.  I hope August is cooler.

When we got home at lunch time Ayi had been here and the place was clean, although not for long.  We stayed inside for the afternoon until just before supper when we visited Celine and Caroline so I could show them my purchases.  Tim was home when we returned and I made a quick supper then went back to visit again with C & C.  I told Tim I needed to be around some estrogen for a while so I hung out there until Celine's husband came home.  I am tired now, having spent the last three hours writing this blog, and I think I will go to bed.  I am all shopped out for a while.  Hopefully I will actually end up wearing everything that I bought.  It's a good excuse to go out someplace nice anyway.

Tomorrow I will get my massage which, after this week, I am in dire need of.  The rude people I encountered this week (there were a few more that I didn't bother mentioning here) really took a toll on my Happiness In China meter.  I know most people here aren't like that but a lot of them, when they stare at us, will have a nasty look on their face until you say something or smile.  Then they usually either smile back, speak or grunt.  But honestly, I get tired of trying to make nice with people.

I think this post had better be wrapped up now, I don't know where else it has to go.  Goodnight everyone!