A lightning quick 'List of the Month' this time....
I have been preparing frenetically for my housewarming for the past few days. Returning by taxi from a big foreigner-friendly grocery store on the east side of town on Thursday, I discovered that a few items had mysteriously fallen out of my huge shopping bag (one of those reinforced plastic IKEA jobs that you can get a small truck in). Alas, they were all items that are likely to be of bugger-all use or interest to the poor cabbie.
Things I lost in the back of a Beijing taxi cab this week
1) A tin of diced tomatoes
2) A lemon
3) A slab of sharp cheddar cheese
That is pretty much the story of my week.
2 comments:
The Missus was just talking yesterday about the mixed (imagined) joys and terrors of living abroad. She has an old college friend who's lived in Portugal for many years; the classmate's descriptions of trying to get your hands on something you're used to finding in any old grocery store, but now practically have to purchase by mail order (or make from scratch) have thrown considerable cold water on The Missus's fantasies of expatriate living.
You can get almost anything in China now, but it often involves quite an expedition. Neighbourhood supermarkets don't really cater to foreigners, and are vexingly erratic in the stock they carry (my local one seems to stop ordering margarine for weeks at a time!). And 7/11-type stores, becoming fairly ubiquitous over the last few years, don't really have the 'convenience' concept down: they often don't sell milk, for example; or eggs; or toilet paper. And good bread is still quite hard to find.
Post a Comment