Warning... Warning... We're Going to Carrefour

You must prepare yourself mentally before heading to Carrefour in China. We've been to Carrefour in several cities, including Prague, Paris and even in a major city in Bahrain, but those outings never came close to what you experience when you go in China. The few foreigners I see in there are usually the ones new to China because the experienced ones know to stay away at all costs. Carrefour does have things that no other store has though so sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet. As the last expat I saw in Carrefour said to her driver dude, "Mr. Wan - remind me to drink heavily before coming here next time." (I write that in Maddie's blog because I know that someday she will understand.)

As always, Maddie is a HUGE attraction. We try to ignore the stares and touches (impossible) while moving quickly through the aisles (impossible again) to get our things. Maddie can last about 20 minutes and then it's just too much to handle. As always, there are stories to tell afterwards so that is what I share with you today.

Maddie was eaten alive by mosquitoes last week so on top of the plug in, I also tried to buy some Raid so we could spray her room down a few hours before she goes to bed. I had the Raid - it was in the cart - and then some random person grabbed it out of my cart and started speaking to me in Chinese really fast, flailing her arms in all directions. I will translate: "Are you a crazy mother? You can't buy this poison if you have such a beautiful child. You must buy something that is more natural and won't be as harmful to her. Here - buy this one." She then proceeded to put in my cart what I should buy. What could I say other than, "xie xie?"

After 40 minutes in Carrefour, Maddie had officially given up and was worthy of another Wang Dang Dinger entry on her blog. As we finished getting our fruit weighed, we tried to make our way to the cash registers. We, of course, could not move very fast and were stuck in front of the final fruit stand with pre-marked costs. Maddie was throwing a fit because I would not buy a small carton of blueberries for $11.00. Just then, another random person started talking to Maddie in Chinese. Maddie then explained to the woman through her tears, in Chinese mind you, that she wanted those blueberries. So the random woman grabbed the blueberries and put them in my cart. What could I say other than, "xie xie?"

Author's Note: I put the attached picture as proof that I indeed paid 78 rmb for blueberries and I did not purchase Raid. AND if you know what the red fruit is on the side, please tell me. It's the color and texture of raspberries, but has a pit and is much bigger.

I love you Maddie....