walmart

in china, better known as wo-er-ma, 沃尔玛！a fascinating marriage of east and west.

between the heat, the language barrier, the crowd, and the sheer size of this place, my peers and i were completely overwhelmed. mary and i were lucky to have our chinese roommate, "sue," as our guide. she was fabulously patient with us, as we pieced together descriptions like "paper of the toilet," "soap in hair," and best of all, "box you eat at breakfast." brand names are written in english, but descriptions are all in characters so we would have been completely lost. here i am, after a pretty successful trip!

and HERE, are my purchases: cheerios, a plastic set of chopsticks with interchangeable fork and spoon heads (SO COOL), a tupperware bowl, a loofa, small shampoo and body wash, apples, and bananas. [not pictured, 10 rolls of toilet paper]

altogether, 85 yuan, or $12.50. i guess this is what happens when you combine america-cheap and china-cheap. incredible.

mr. hu, you can keep your exchange rate!