Tesco Nightmares

Once again, China blocked my access to facebook and this blog. After a few days of relentlessly hunting down proxy servers, I am once again online.

Yesterday I went over to my local Tesco to pick up some laundry detergent. Tesco is like a wall-mart style underground shopping mall that spans the entire double level basement of the large building in which it is located. As a westernized shopper, Tesco is both fascinating and frightening.

Upon walking into this emporium of madness, I am immediately overwhelmed by the number of people. These people have no organization, instead opting for snail-like browsing or aggressive pushing and shoving. While making my way over to the toiletries selection, I realize that despite having some western brands, nothing is in English. I hopelessly stare at the wall of herbal essence hair products, trying to remember which color shampoo I use, all the while being knocked around by various other shoppers. I then venture over to the aisle of washing detergent, walking past everything from small vespas to a large array or liquor. Again, no English. I scoff at the price, almost 75 RMB for a normal sized laundry detergent ( this is about 11 US dollars) but figure I can't decipher any of the cheaper alternatives and I don't want to end up with bleached out clothes.
Once I grab my essential items, I look around the sea of bodies for some sign of a check-out station. Nothing. I wander aimlessly around the bottom floor, looking for anything resembling a cashier. Finally, I see a moving ramp to the upper floor. Though not my first guess, I assumed the ramp would allow me to find some way of exiting the store.
I arrived on the upper floor to an even more massive crowd of people. Household products were replaced by food... so much food. Shelves and shelves of products that I couldn't recognize. I once again began my search for the checkout. I passed young women with microphones and adorable dress outfits, promoting the Chinese equivalent of Activia Yogurt. I passed through the fresh produce section, which considering how much local food I'm eating was a mistake. Not only were people handling the produce, but they were throwing it around and testing it. As I made to turn around, an small old woman literally sneezed in my face. Those who know me well know that I HATE sneezing, especially when not covered. This was in my face. To my horror, this is not uncommon in China. There were people simply coughing, sneezing, or hawking spit all over the place...in a supermarket. Worse was the meat counter. Apparently, in China, customers like to "feel" the meat before purchasing. Slabs of raw flesh lay out, amidst the crowds of people, being handled and prodded. I had to get out.
Ten minutes later, after stumbling through the frozen food section with my detergent and hair product, I finally found the checkout. Logically placed? No. I paid, bagged my items (you have to do that yourself here) and promptly went upstairs to the Starbucks to recover from my adventure. Shanghai has many a Starbucks, which is a definite plus for me. I haven't had American food for almost three weeks, but by God I won't give up my daily Latte. Whenever I get overwhelmed by the Chinese, the culture immersion, or just need a minute alone, I head to the beautiful shining beacons of either the local Starbucks or Coffee Bean (they are ALL over the city... lucky me.) I sit with my latte, recollect myself, and continue onward.

So I need to get used to the crazy shopping, but I guess that's culture immersion. I've gotten REALLY good at taking the subways ( it costs about 3 RMB per ride, or about 50 cents.) I take subways every day, by myself. I fight through the crowd and push my way in, just like everyone else in China. I can't get used to the public sneezing-coughing-hawking. I don't understand how that is culturally acceptable. Regardless, I just go with it. I take cabs when I have to, even though cabs here are also very cheap. No big surprise... I'm pretty independent.

More to come. Need to finish my IR reading first (yes, I am a student.)