An Afternoon of Shopping!!!

Well, I have decided to try to be better about telling you more of what I do and how I live life...like how I survive here. One of the questions I get asked the most from my students is, Can you speak Chinese and if not how do you survive? lol This is a legit question and very important to them. Food is the biggest thing they think about most days...They are constantly wondering if I eat here. I mean, what do they think? I just walk around aimlessly hoping for some American food to just appear? Negative! One of my favorite past times in America is going to HEB:-) AHhhh just typing those letters make me sad:-( Oh well, an afternoon of strolling down the isles looking for what I need and exploring my creative cooking options...of course this happens best when I'm alone. It is therapy for me:-) My first trip to the grocery store here was a bit overwhelming. Walmart is not any more my friend here as it is in the states so I avoid it like the plague! But I must say, today I rode my bike to the JKMall(supermarket). The supermarket I normally shop at is being remodeled( currently looks like a war zone), So I decided to venture out to another store. It was about a 15min. Bike ride and today was very beautiful:-) I brought my backpack to fill up...they don't bag your items for you or give you bags...you can buy bags or bring your own. I always bring my own!! So, I realized when I get there that it had also been remodeled since the last time I had been there. WOW, I had such a wonderful time strolling down the isles and looking for what I needed! i was so surprised at the foreign food I found! I realized that I could have grocery store therapy again:-) For this girl....that's such a great thing! I failed to remember that I was in China and had to carry everything back on my back and in my bike basket...hmmmm. The best part of the day was when I realized the lady at the Bike area(We leave our bikes in a special area while we are in the store so they don't get stolen...it's only 5 jiao...50cents.) was laughing at me and asking her husband to watch me. My backpack was packed to the max and then the basket was packed and I had to carry the bread in my hand:-) LOL....I had so many looks as I rode back to my apartment like that. I mean, I have looks anyway, I'm a foreigner, but today I felt like a spectacle!!! I hadn't been to the store in about a month and a half...so I needed to get some stuff! Hope you enjoy the pics!!!

Oh yes, Mr. Potato Head Chips...lol

Some items i was very happy about!! Bananas, Butter, Yogurt, Cheese, and Wheat Bread:-) The Wheat bread, Butter and Cheese are sparse in these parts...which make this pic soooo much better:-)

The fruit is one of my new favorites!!! Yozi:-) It is like a giant grapefruit/orange! Then I found some BBQ sauce!!! The crackers are like saltines and then i found some dried Kiwi!!!!

This is the way they try to get you to buy chinese milk...they attach a free gift:-) This brand is one of the ones I like:-)

I was overcome with JOY to see this ORGANIC MILK...like real milk from a cow!!!! Now I found it in the dry good section and it has been imported from Australia....But I'm sure it will be amazing!

Butter...a special treat!

This is the section of the store where you buy yogurt drink....everyone drinks this:-)

This is the snack section....many sweet snacks and salty snacks can be found here...you bag it yourself and wait in a line...well...an area, and get your stuff weighed! It's another area to just throw your stuff on the scale:-) Today this girl walked up while one of mine was being weighed and just looked at me...I was thinking, is she going to try to cut in and throw her stuff before me? But NO...to my surprise she waited and didn't even try:-) I smiled at her and felt so happy...LOL It's the little things...

And this my friends is how they buy milk...in small boxes. They are individually boxes, boxed together. All kinds...of course I can't read to understand what they mean but I'm pretty sure the shelf life is pretty long...Oh to taste the fresh milk from a COW again!

And this was a shirt I found...I took the pic in honor of my friend Nathan M. Who LOVES Audrey:-) This is very typical for a shirt here....many people wear shirts with sayings they don't understand...and some of them are very inappropriate! If they only knew that wearing a pink shirt with tedy bears on it doesn't make inappropriate saying any better! Oh China!!!