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A few times now I’ve been to this French chain store called Auchan that was previously described as the offspring of a Super WalMart and Costco. This store sells everything you could possibly need: clothes, appliances, wine, baked goods, fresh foods, electronics, sporting equipment, luggage, jewelery, cosmetics, dinnerware, paper products, children’s books, toys … The list just goes on and on!

At Auchan you can even get your haircut, do your banking, and get your electronics fixed. (At least I think that’s what the small electronics shop is for after the bank of 50 checkout registers…)

Shopping at Auchan is an experience not to be missed, especially on the weekend when it tends to be the busiest with families of all shapes and sizes zipping in and out of the aisles as if they’re driving their shopping carts on the streets. And just like vehicles on the roads outside, somehow there are rarely any shopping cart collisions!

During this past week I wound up going to Auchan three days in a row. To document everything in this amazing place I created a photo album I’m calling The Auchan Chronicles. This photo album will be updated as frequently as possible showing off only the best Auchan has to offer. Like, for example, this week when the seafood section had more than just live fish for sale: eels, turtles, and bullfrogs the size of grapefruit were in bins ready to be bagged (???!) up and brought home.

So checkout the album and hope you enjoy what you see. And if you have any good turtle recipes or know what to do with “whine wine”, leave me a comment or two below!

I got a message from my apartment broker this evening. She was quite concerned over something. You see, unlike in the USA most of your utilities seem to be prepaid (something I didn’t know about) and apparently there is 1-2 days left of money in my electricity account. Oops! Well, it’s not all my fault as I assumed an invoice would be sent and I’d post-pay for what I used, nor was I told otherwise. Things are definitely different here in China!

This also means I need to figure out how to transfer money again! Tomorrow will be another adventure and one hopefully done not in the dark… 

In the USA, when you visit a grocery store to buy fruit or vegetables or anything that needs to be weighed to determine how much you will pay for it, you place all those items in your basket and head to the cashier. The cashier then scans the barcodes on all the items and weighs the items that need to be weighed, helps bag the items, collects the amount owed, and then sends you off on your way.

Apparently in China, for items that need to be weighed, you collect those items as you would in the USA but then need to find the employee working the area. It’s that employee’s job to keep the area tidy and full of goods and also to weigh the items you’re purchasing and affix a label to the bag of goods for the cashier to then scan when you’re ready to check out.

It’s also a good idea to have a few canvas bag with you when shopping unless you want to pay 1/10rmb for a plastic one.

In another case of mistaken speech, my Chinese teacher busted out laughing at me when I mixed up “hotel” and “9 o’clock”. To my credit, both words, when you leave off the tone marks, are written as “jiudian”. And if you add the first tone mark but leave off the second one, the word is still written the same: “jiǔdian”. Written out correctly the words are:

• Hotel: jiǔdiàn 酒店
• 9 o’clock: jiǔdiǎn 九点

Looks like the Chinese characters add a lot more meaning instead of the English-like Pinyin! 

Next time I’m going to meet someone at nine o’clock I hope to not tell them to meet me at the hotel!

One big difference between someone who grew up in New York state like I did and those that live here in Suzhou is the ways we use escalators. For me, when I’m walking around town, the mall, or getting to the subway, I just want to complete that task as soon as possible and this means using the escalator as an aid in moving faster. In Suzhou, and the few other places I’ve been in China (Shanghai and the Pudong Airport), any mechanical people mover, flat or inclined, is used to rest and not to help you reach your destination faster. 

Tonight on my way to dinner, a down pour started as I was two blocks from the restaurant. Knowing there is an underground mall that connects these blocks together, I jumped inside the passageway with a number of other folk. Most people lined up on the right side of the escalator — there were no stairs — which to me implies they will stand and not walk down the moving stairs. One boy, maybe 8 years old, decided to stand next to the adult who was with him, minding no attention to others around him. As I approached I said “excuse me”, albeit in English instead of the Chinese 对不起 as English still comes as my natural response these days, but he didn’t move and the adult just ignored me as well. I said it once more as I tapped him on the shoulder; no response. My next move was to say it once more while applying light pressure to his shoulder to move him in direction I needed so I could pass. Moses had an easier time parting the Red Sea than I did this little boy on the escalator.

So yes, that’s just one incident but it happens like that over and over. If there are stairs that can be utilized, I take them. Not only is taking the stairs faster, it’s better for your health, kind of a mini workout, but, while you’re making double-time up or down the various levels, you need to ignore the stares from those standing on the escalator staring at you as if you’re a zoo animal doing a feat never been performed before. That is, unless of course, they are too engulfed with their digital device of choice and thus why not moving on their own accord is likely more preferential in the first place.

Working From the Bus. I tired it this morning and have to say if the bus drivers are going to be as aggressive as this one was, the mornings — or evenings — that I need to commute and work will be via subway instead. It costs 5rmb instead of 2rmb, is longer, and requires a connection but I won’t feel as sick to my stomach as was the case this morning. 

By now you likely figured out that my posts are infrequent this week, and for good reason: The temporary housing location, as comfortable as it was, got packed up and I moved into my new apartment at The Summit in Xinghai Square!

For those following along at home, The Summit is the corner apartment on the 28th floor with the great view from the bedroom and a not too shabby one from the living room. It sports a seriously large kitchen for an apartment in China, has two bathrooms both with showers and one with a separate tub, and it has a second bedroom for guests to come and visit. (Hint, hint!) Work will be a 45-50 minute trip in each direction either by a single bus route or via subway with one or two connections. 

Since my household goods have yet to be released from the customs authorities (ugggh) I had to go out yesterday and buy new sheets, pillows, and glasses to drink from, so off to Auchan I went!

Auchan can only be described as the elephantitis inflicted love child of a Costco, IKEA, and Super WalMart. This place seemingly has everything from groceries to travel equipment to bedding items to wines to sports equipment, electronics, books, children toys … It just goes on and on. And it is a ZOO! On my next trip to Auchan when I have more time and hopefully an adult beverage inconspicuously hidden in a thermos, I will have to take video. Customers everywhere, workers loudly boasting about the wares they’re peddling, and employees on rollerblades zooming by — yes, the place is that big!

So off to the bedding aisles (plural) I went and success was had. Pillows, sheets, and a new duvet cover went into my cart. And then a bottle of wine, quickly followed by wine glasses. Then garbage bags. Then two sacks of salty nuts. Then a roll of tape. Then … Oh boy, fortunately I stopped myself as I only had two hands to carry it all with me!

Once back at my place I attempted to make my bed for the first time with two regular bedsheets as Auchan was all out of fitted ones. (I’d look it up on YouTube but you know, that part of the internet is banned here in China…) And with that accomplishment successfully performed it was time for dinner. I convinced my friend Abby to join me for dinner after she got off work (she’s an English teacher and works weekends). We went to El Luchador which is a pretty good nearby Mexican restaurant that has this really weird monthly special called Cinco de Drinko. Every fifth of the month all their drinks are half priced from midnight to midnight! Oh boy, those margaritas were delicious!

After a good night in Xinghai Square I had to finish moving out of the old place. And then begin the arduous process of unpacking and organizing everything. It shouldn’t be too difficult, though, as most of my belongings in the world are sitting in a warehouse at the Port of Shanghai, likely in a non-climate controlled room soaking up all the humidity and moisture they can. The damage report will be fun to fill out!

There’s a few things that no matter how much I try to not let them bother or annoy me they just … Will take a very long time to get used to, if I ever do get used to them!

1. Customer Service. In the USA it’s hard at times to grab a waiter’s attention or find a store clerk when you need one. Here, from the moment you enter a place there’s someone following you around. If you’re at a restaurant it’s not uncommon for the wait staff to stare over your shoulder while you look at the menu. And that statement, “stare over your shoulder”, is not exaggerated at all! Tonight, for example, the waitress was less than a foot away watching me flip through the menu from the moment she set it in front of me until the time I placed my order!
2. Smoking indoors. Enough said. The air outside isn’t always that clean, I’d hope the air inside would be. 
3. Spitting, burping, and sneezing loudly. The last one is a bit harder to control than the first two, so it sort of gets a pass. But the other two? And in public places? The spitting I usually hear while walking around or, if I’m “lucky” from my can driver. It’s the type of spitting that summons phlegm from the netheregions that would make a cat trying to ride itself of a hairball perk up and take notice. Loudly belching is so common it seems ever beverage drank must be infused with bubbles, most especially at work.
4. Not moving out of the way of others. I get it, you’re really engaged playing that game or reading that blog post on your phone while standing and waiting for whatever it is you’re standing or waiting for so you’re completely forgiven! But for the rest of those people, who could easily be courteous since they’re watching you approach, to move maybe six inches out of the way so you don’t have to bump them as you walk past, all I have to say is prepare yourselves as I have a really low center of gravity and am bigger than 85% of the people in this country.

Yes, I do sound like Andy Rooney when he was alive and still doing his weekly spot on 60 Minutes. And no, I don’t care! But yes, I do realize I sound like someone ignorant of other cultures yet I leave you with this thought: While I pointed out those issues, I am not saying they need to change nor am I trying to change them; I’ll just put my headphones on to drown out the gaseous excretions, take my time to painstakingly read through menus, continue giving side-eye (yes, that’s now a word in Merriam-Webster) when you blow smoke in my direction, and flash my pearly whites after saying “对不起” while clearing a path for my extra wide hips to pass on by.

My oh my, what a difference a few degrees centigrade makes! The weather has been quite hot the month of July with almost every day above 35C/95F. With a couple of typhoons making landfall to the south and east of where I am, we’ve had a few days of sustained strong and Gusty winds. And lower temps, finally!

Today I’m not sure if we got above 33C or 34C, but I do know the temperature was so much better for an evening jog. On my usual route I hit my best time, knocking almost 2.5 minutes off the clock! My best elapsed time for a mile lap during that jog was 7:40, a time I’ve not been able to reach in years. It was still overly humid and, as such, I sweated about 1kg of water. 

This lovely respite won’t last, however. Tomorrow through the weekend, temps are headed back up to 37-39C. Glad I got to enjoy it while it lasted!

(Editor’s Note: Apparently this blog post, like a number of others, were written but never moved out of the “Draft” state. You might see posts like this pop up that seem like they’re out of date order based on the number of elapsed days that I’ve been in China. 2017-11-16)

Normally paying the rent would not warrant a blog post, yet here one is! Why the occasion? If you remember my previous post on paying for things with WeChat — which is now working fine, btw — everything here money-related can be done via an app. Paying the rent means using my bank’s mobile phone app … Which is only available in Chinese!

So I tired again and again to figure out how to do this on my own, but failed. The system is not as straight forward as it is in the USA to send cash.

Once I logged into the app and began to enter the information, some of which has to be in Chinese and not Pinyin (English-like spellings of Chinese characters), there were too many differences to overcome:

1. Ensuring the right bank was selected for where the funds were going
2. Entering in the key code on a small external device the bank gave you
3. Writing a memo to keep track of the payment, in the app of course
4. Knowing how to save and send a fāpiao — official receipt — once the transaction goes through

Honestly, though, the key code was the most difficult part of all this. If it wasn’t for my apartment broker who was willing to help me out, I’d STILL be struggling with this! (Yes, that’s right … I’m a guy who doesn’t mind asking for help or even directions if lost!)

Just another fun adventure in China! But this adventure will only repeat four times a year; rent is paid quarterly here!