Ok, so we all know how I feel about market shopping – I LOVE IT - rows and rows of shops wanting to sell you anything and everything at just about any price just to sell it. You can get anything at the markets; clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, sports equipment, toys, cell phones, ipods, cameras, movies, games, etc. Of course, most of it is illegal knock offs and I would never trust any kind of electronic, but you can really find some steals.
Market shopping is like a game though, and I have mastered the art of bargaining. It is funny though because at the end of the game, I walk away thinking wow what a great deal, I just got these shoes for only 100 Yuan. On the other end, I am sure the guy who just sold it to me is laughing and thinking what a fool, I just sold her those shoes for 100 Yuan. I have decided that I don’t really feel guilty about spending money at the market. A. I am spending next to nothing in USD even if I am paying more RMB than I should and B. I am supporting the local economy.
There are a couple things that I have become obsessed with buying. I am sure it is no surprise that I buy shoes like it is my job… literally! Four months ago, I came to China with about 5 pairs of shoes, yet I will probably return with more than 20. They are just so cheap and so cute! I have bought cute heels, boots, flats, Crocs, Nikes, Converse, and flip flops – it is like I can’t stop! My other recent obsession is sun glasses. I can’t really explain this one, but really, you can never have enough sun glasses. Today alone I bought three pairs of sunglasses at the market. You may think it is excessive (and it probably is considering that I have several other pairs at home already) but hear me out… first I bought a pair of Ray Ban aviators to replace the ones that I lost in my drunken stupor last weekend. Then I found some really cute purple Ray Ban's for only 30 RMB and the guy offered me a really good deal on an adorable pair of Chanel’s if I bought them both. How could I resist?
My other addiction is movies and CDs. This one is easy… so I can buy any movie here for 5 RMB, brand new movies that are still in theaters in the US. Yes they are illegal bootleg copies and sometimes I end up with a bad copy, but I can always take it back to exchange. TV seasons I can buy for about 30 RMB or less and CDs are between 5 and 10 RMB, less than buying a CD on iTunes. I have bought a ton of movies and seasons because we don’t really have cable here to watch, so I end up watching a lot of seasons or popping in a movie while I am at the apartment. I have already finished several seasons of Criminal Minds, Glee, Spartacus, One Tree Hill, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.
Buying CDs is really funny though because a lot of times they don’t end up being correct. For example, I bought a Carrie Underwood CD. I was intrigued because it was supposed to be a 2 disc “Greatest Hits” CD, but it had a lot of songs that I had never heard of. Well later that day when I was loading the CDs on to my iTunes and listening, I discovered that half of the first CD was Nora Jones, and half of the second CD was Leann Rimes… not exactly what I wanted, but whatever.
Ok, so here is what I hate about market shopping… buying clothes! I get sooooooo annoyed trying to buy clothes. I did not bring a lot of jeans here and unfortunately I did not bring any shorts or anything and now that it is getting warmer, I need to buy some. It is so frustrating though. For starters, Asians all wear baby sizes. Seriously, the biggest Asian women wears a size double zero, and their shirts are x-small. Now I am definitely not a size zero, but I would not classify myself as gigantic either. In the US, I am average and I wear a medium usually. Here, I have to wear a large or an x-large because their sizes run so small. Their pants go by waist measurements (not just like a 4 or 5 or whatever), and even though my waist is only 27, I have to wear at least a 30 or 31 pants to fit my waist and butt. I bought two pairs of jeans at one shop, both 30s but different brands of jeans. I tried on one pair at the shop and they fit, so I assumed the others would fit too. When I got home and put on the other ones, however, they were about 5 sizes too small and I could not even pull them over my butt. It is just so weird.
The problem is that many of the shops at the market don’t carry all the sizes, and they usually don’t carry bigger sizes… sometimes the biggest size they have is like a 24 (which is a “large”). When I ask if they have something in my size, they laugh and say no, no, no. Really? Like I am so enormous that it would be hysterical to even think of carrying something that might fit me?
And of course, the people here are so blunt about it. Yesterday I was in a little shop and Courtney and I were looking at dresses. I pulled out a cute dress (size large) that looked like it would fit, but the lady working at the shop pointed to my stomach and my butt and said, “It won’t fit. Too small.” At another shop, we were looking at shorts and the lady immediately said, “We have big sizes.” I usually respond by saying something smart like, “Oh good, you carry normal sizes?” or “You think I am too fat to wear this?” To them, they are not trying to insult me, it is just their culture, but what an ego bruise! Then on the other hand, there are ladies that pull everything off their shelves saying, “This is so beautiful… Just for you... Pretty lady…”
So anyways, buying clothes usually just frustrates me and makes me want to wrap myself in cellophane and starve myself while working out to Insanity for hours, so I tend to avoid it! For now, I will just stick with buying shoes, movies and sunglasses and wait for my return to my fat country where I can feel good about myself again.
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