Wal - Mart China style

Today, Matt had a meeting downtown and wanted to show us girls his new office. He dropped all 4 of us girls off at the Wal-Mart in downtown Beijing. Please remember none of us speak the language here. Well, the girls have learned a few words which proved very handy today, like hello, excuse me, thank you, and where's the bathroom. We grabbed 2 buggies and off we went. We had quite a long list and a few hours to kill, so we used the time to explore the store. Interestingly, most things have the English words on the product and the signs where things are. We found just about everything we needed, from laundry detergent, comforter, vases, to a dust mop. After killing a couple of hours, we were ready to check out. In China, you must pay for the plastic bags, if you want to use those and not reusable bags. We decided to buy about 10 reusable bags, so we pointed to the bags and held up 10 fingers. The checker lady understood. We paid for our items and loaded them back into the buggies only to get to the door and realize you can't take the buggy outside. So, we began to gather our things, and I hear Samantha say, "Get your stuff and let's go." I look up and she has put 3-4 bags, including the comforter bag on the dust mop and has it flung over her shoulder. I guess it was exhaustion or jet lag, but I got tickled and began crying laughing. This poor young boy came over and was trying to help me put the vases in a bag to carry. Now, you must know - Chinese people stare at blonde blue eyed people insufferably as it is, it is even worse when they are standing in the middle of Wal-Mart crying. Ha! We made our way out to the street and had to sit and wait on Matt to pick us up. I was still crying when we sat down on the bench and put our bags down. It was a fun time shopping with the girls. I guess it's safe to say that Wal-Mart is Wal-Mart, wherever you go. Afterwards, we went to Matt's office building and up to his floor (46th). Samantha and Shelby were up against the glass wall looking down at the ground and over the city - it's quite a view. Sydni wouldn't go closer than 3 feet from the window. They had a good time taking pictures. For dinner, we ate dinner at a great restaurant around the corner from our house.

We are having a great time - miss you all.

Blessings.