Shopping in China: the good, the bad, and the really, really ugly

Today I went shopping. A word about shopping. I’ve never been a big fan of shopping, even in America. In China, there are the same annoying crowds around Christmas time…and every other day of the year. (Generally you can find a place to park your bike, though!) As soon as you walk into a store, eager sales associates crowd around pointing out objects and asking questions and saying things that you don’t understand. It’s hard to make up your mind with a crowd of people looking over your shoulder. I’m indecisive anyway. Then there’s the bargaining. Some people relish it. I just want to buy the thing and not have to argue about it for five minutes. Those are things I don’t like about shopping in China. It’s stressful.

Besides all that, it’s depressing to shop in a country where everything is too small. You think trying on clothes in America is depressing. In China it tends to end up the same way. I find out the end of the sleeves are halfway up my freakishly long arms and the wristband is cutting off circulation and the XL might fit if breathing was unnecessary.

But today I went shopping for boots. A word about boots. In the wintertime, everyone wears boots. Everyone. (Girls, anyway. I don’t pay as much attention to guy shoes. I’ll have to check up on that and let you know.) I’ve seen boots with buckles and diamonds and unidentifiable dangly things. I’ve seen leather and fur and leopard print and fuzzy purple boots. I think that it’s part of the teacher code to wear black, pointy-toed boots. I decided that if I wore a pair of boots (and a hat and five more layers) maybe I would get less scandalous looks and maybe my feet wouldn’t freeze.

So today I went shopping for boots at a big shoe store downtown. The whole store was filled with boots. It’s hard to make up your mind with hundreds of boots to choose from. I’m indecisive anyway. I was going to go for the knee-high pointy-toed boots, because if you’re going to buy boots, you might as well go all out. Even though there were dozens of different kinds of knee-high pointy-toed boots, I couldn’t find one that liked. I guess I’m picky. And I don’t like unidentifiable dangly things.

I finally narrowed in on a few possibilities. The store clerk was really nice, considering I couldn’t figure out anything she was saying. I asked for a 38 (whatever size that is) and she brought a 37. They were too small, of course. I kept asking about a 38. She kept shaking her head and saying something. I thought she didn’t understand. I’ve been in China long enough I should have known that I’m usually the one who doesn’t understand. She was probably trying to help me save face even though my feet were too big for their shoes. Sigh. I finally found a pair – a relatively flat, ankle high pair with warm fuzzy stuff inside. And they fit! Sweet.

Now the good thing about shopping in China: They were only 44¥. That’s $5.50.