Mission of the day- brave the supermarket...alone

So the girls have been really extending themselves to me and taking me around which is great, but what if they were not here or went on vaca-- what if I just need to be independent...so I made a list of things I needed from the supermarket, told them I was going alone and set sail or whatever you say when you are not on water...

Mission 1: Getting there
I approached a mamu man (the 3 wheeled vehicle driver) and said " Ni hao, bay san chao shoo" (spelling is off to help with pronounciation- to which he said "hao" which is good (literally) and good because if they don't understand your request they will not take you...see story below
About 5 mins later, I arrived at the supermarket, paid, thanked him and went on my way.

Mission 2: Finding items with Chinese labeling

It was pretty sweatless for me to find the items I wanted, so I loaded up my cart- what was not easy was moving around unnoticed. The workers would tell other workers I was there, friends would tell others and people would all of a sudden need an item that was in the aisle I was standing in. One girl peeped in the aisle and I saw her so she walked in the aisle. I stepped back so she could "look at the item" but she kept looking at me as if I was for sale too...then her friend came to me and proceeded to have a conversation in Mandarin. I told her I am American but I live here, I am a teacher and that I teach in Yidu. She asked me a question and I told her I did not understand, so she continued to talk in Chinese, I asked her if she spoke English and she said in Chinese that her English in not that good, I told her my Chinese is not good and figured this would be the end of the conversation considering we cannot understand each other. She continued to talk in Mandarin to which I would sometimes respond "wo bu mingbai"- I dont understand, then she would seem disappointed and try harder- eventually her friend helped to pull her away but they continued to follow me around the store.
Workers would suddenly realize there is an item on the back shelf that should be pulled forward, parents would tell their children there is a "waiguoren" in the aisle. The adults are much worse than the children {wai (foreign) guo (country) ren (person)- foreigner}. After finding everything I needed, I went to pay, the line became ridiculously long but I didn't care because I was in the front, I then started to realize that most of the people on the line did not have any items to be purchased! I know that personal space is not one of the biggest priorities here but they started to crowd me and I thought they were just being rude and trying to get ahead because they had lesser items (I was buying the store!)- one lady slipped in front of me and started taking up my items and putting them in a bag, she held on to it tightly and barred me from accessing it, I paid, thanked the cashier and then she handed me the bag and started smiling...dont know what that was about, but everyone around me turned out to be pretty helpful.

So I went downstairs to buy food products, I have been called a waiguoren a couple of times so I know how it sounds and I am pretty sure that after me being there for 5 mins, someone announced over the PA that there was a foreigner in the store! I would have ignored it and thought I was bugging but the teachers told me it is customary for them to announce our presence. I got most of what I wanted but when I was cashing out the cashier was trying to explain something about the peppers. I told her to leave them because I had no clue what she was saying, I later learned that the peppers had to be weighed at another section because she did not have a scale, so apart from my peppers, everything went pretty well.

Mission 3: Getting back home with my load

I saw a mamu driver as soon as I walked outside, he helped me with my bags and I told him "wai gou you shay shou" and off we went. I could have just told him "home" in Mandarin and he would have knew where to take me.

All in all: mission accomplished! So my survival skills seem to be in tact!

The story I referred to...
An American exchange student approached a mamu driver and told him where to go. The mamu driver drove for about 15 mins and stopped. The student realized he was in the wrong place and attempted to communicate this info. The mamu driver was baffled and drove around for a while trying to help the boy...he then tried to contact his daughter who was learning English. The boy spoke to his daughter and then she explained to her dad where he needed to be. The boy and the girl are now married, just kidding they aren't but the mamu driver ended up driving around for about 30 mins for 3RMB and normally a 5 min ride costs 3 RMB!

This shows:
1. Most Chinese are generally very hospitable and try to be helpful
2. The caveat with a tonal language- the word "ma" has 5 different meaning depending on how it is pronounced-- mother, horse, to scold, hemp or marking a question (?)
3. 3 RMB (50 cents US) can take you a long way in China :)