simplify, simplify
Sep. 19th, 2006 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetThe deed is done. I've dropped my Caribbean Cultures and Chinese Economy classes. Although I really did want to try and graduate by Spring 2007, I just have to keep my priorities straight. If I want to do home school "right" I need more time to devote to it. Right now, I have virtually no down time. As soon as the kids fall asleep, I have to start on my own homework. I'd much rather have a little free time to write more in my lj, write emails or just watch one of the many dvds that we've bought recently. My Russian history class requires a butt-load of reading in and of itself, so that will be plenty to keep me busy. Plus, I'm finding it very fascinating, especially put in the context that I am now living in a communist country (not that you can ever tell. I seems as Capitalistic, if not more, than the USA to me. Of course, I haven't traveled to the rural areas yet.)
On Monday we were out of food in the house. No food. I went shopping Friday and bought 3 days worth of food with the plan to go back to the store Monday afternoon. When Chris called to say he'd be home on Monday, I canceled the babysitter and stayed home waiting for his arrival. His train was delayed and one thing lead to another resulting in no grocery store trip. It is such an ordeal for me to go to the store here. The locals walk to a close by market and purchase one or two things, like some noodles, veggies and meat, every day. Nice and easy. That doesn't work for me right now. For one thing, I have no idea how to prepare most of the local veggies that they sell here. These are vegetables that I've never seen in my life. The other day I ran into Mr. Florida at the playground and he started trying to teach me Chinese words by showing me the veggies he'd just bought. I can't tell you now what those words were (pathetic, I know!) but after he told me, he asked me to tell him what the veggies were called in English. I looked at and said "Potato?" Mr. Florida said, no, no. "Radish? Turnip? Rutabaga?" No, no that's not right. I finally shrugged my shoulders and told him I had no idea what it was called because I'd never seen one before.
My point to this rampage is that I have not developed the skillz to be able to shop at the local market effectively for food my family will eat. Not only that, but I can't take the kids shopping with me once or twice every single day. That would just be too much. I have to go to Carrafoure, or some such store that sells food we know and love. Hot dogs, lunch meat, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, pancake mix--these are the things we eat. Sounds healthy, hmmm? But even when I go to a big grocery store and do a large shopping trip, I still only manage to bring home 3 days worth of food at the most. First, I have to buy what is managable for me to carry home. Second, nothing is sold in huge bulk quanitites here. As I'm sure you all know, the average Chinese family only has one child. They have no need for a super sized box of Cherrios. We go through a Chinese-sized box of cereal in one day (btw, when you open the box, there isn't one large bag. There are 5 individually packaged bags.) So, I buy three boxes at a time. This brings me to the third problem. I feel embarrassed to buy so much at a time. If I buy three days worth of food, I can easily spend 300 rmb. That is only about $40. Seems like a quite a bargain, right? Yes, to our American mind it is. However, to the average Chinese I just spent half of a whole months salary. Yessiree. So when I'm walking through the grocery store with my cart full of food, people stop and stare. Some women practically lean into the cart to see what I have. I feel too self conscious. I suppose this is just something I need to get over it, since this is how I have to shop. It just takes some getting used to.
So, that's why on Monday I fed the boys hotdogs for breakfast. We had no cereal, no bread, no milk, no fruit. For lunch we had hotdogs again :) Dinner was Pizza Hut (our new favorite restaurant.) I won't let that happen again. Live and learn. Sometimes it seems like I'm learning to live a completely different way. I like it, mostly.
On Monday we were out of food in the house. No food. I went shopping Friday and bought 3 days worth of food with the plan to go back to the store Monday afternoon. When Chris called to say he'd be home on Monday, I canceled the babysitter and stayed home waiting for his arrival. His train was delayed and one thing lead to another resulting in no grocery store trip. It is such an ordeal for me to go to the store here. The locals walk to a close by market and purchase one or two things, like some noodles, veggies and meat, every day. Nice and easy. That doesn't work for me right now. For one thing, I have no idea how to prepare most of the local veggies that they sell here. These are vegetables that I've never seen in my life. The other day I ran into Mr. Florida at the playground and he started trying to teach me Chinese words by showing me the veggies he'd just bought. I can't tell you now what those words were (pathetic, I know!) but after he told me, he asked me to tell him what the veggies were called in English. I looked at and said "Potato?" Mr. Florida said, no, no. "Radish? Turnip? Rutabaga?" No, no that's not right. I finally shrugged my shoulders and told him I had no idea what it was called because I'd never seen one before.
My point to this rampage is that I have not developed the skillz to be able to shop at the local market effectively for food my family will eat. Not only that, but I can't take the kids shopping with me once or twice every single day. That would just be too much. I have to go to Carrafoure, or some such store that sells food we know and love. Hot dogs, lunch meat, peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, pancake mix--these are the things we eat. Sounds healthy, hmmm? But even when I go to a big grocery store and do a large shopping trip, I still only manage to bring home 3 days worth of food at the most. First, I have to buy what is managable for me to carry home. Second, nothing is sold in huge bulk quanitites here. As I'm sure you all know, the average Chinese family only has one child. They have no need for a super sized box of Cherrios. We go through a Chinese-sized box of cereal in one day (btw, when you open the box, there isn't one large bag. There are 5 individually packaged bags.) So, I buy three boxes at a time. This brings me to the third problem. I feel embarrassed to buy so much at a time. If I buy three days worth of food, I can easily spend 300 rmb. That is only about $40. Seems like a quite a bargain, right? Yes, to our American mind it is. However, to the average Chinese I just spent half of a whole months salary. Yessiree. So when I'm walking through the grocery store with my cart full of food, people stop and stare. Some women practically lean into the cart to see what I have. I feel too self conscious. I suppose this is just something I need to get over it, since this is how I have to shop. It just takes some getting used to.
So, that's why on Monday I fed the boys hotdogs for breakfast. We had no cereal, no bread, no milk, no fruit. For lunch we had hotdogs again :) Dinner was Pizza Hut (our new favorite restaurant.) I won't let that happen again. Live and learn. Sometimes it seems like I'm learning to live a completely different way. I like it, mostly.
shopping
Date: 2006-09-19 10:26 pm (UTC)Re: shopping
Date: 2006-09-19 11:23 pm (UTC)nanny
Date: 2006-09-20 03:12 am (UTC)