Day Nine: "I really don't like being called "Hey Lady!".

Day nine: “I really don’t like being called “Hey Lady!”. quote by me, Hollie

Not much today. We are getting good at the subway. We went shopping in a subway market that is a couple of transfers away from our place. We are having fun learning the haggling system. After we bought something each time Aiden, Riley and I went back into the common area and talked about what we could have done differently. I think it’s going to be hard to go to Redmond Town Center now and not try to negotiate a price for everything. It’s sort of a fun process. Although, I am tired of hearing “Hey lady, you want to see my merchandise”. I told one lady who I visited with for a while (she had pretty good English and she told us a bit about the market) that I don’t like being called lady, I find it somewhat offensive. I explained she would probably do better business with westerners if she didn’t call them “Lady”. I think she appreciated my comments. Her ploy was... she liked me and was giving me a good deal because she thought my daughter was beautiful, so she gave me a special deal….or so she said, over and over and over again. I didn’t believe her, but it’s an interesting ploy, flattery works much of the time in most situations.

I bought a couple of things for myself. I don’t know what to think about it though. I have a hard time buying clothes that fit in the USA. I am usually a small and pants are nearly impossible for me to find something that actually fits. I was told yesterday that I am not a small, I am a chinese medium. I’ve never been a medium in my life. Then I bought a cute, new jacket and not only was I not a small, but I wasn’t a medium either. I was a large. Wowza! You don’t want to be big here; you won’t find clothes that fit. So I’m pretty happy with my new purchases, but not happy about the sizing….now I see why the US has been slowly changing their sizing names and numbers.

I had been warned not to get caught in the subway at rush hour. While we were shopping it wasn’t particularly busy down there so I lost track of time. Before we knew it it was 5:30, Uh-Oh!, rush hour had already begun and we needed to try to get home before Jeff got home at 6:45. We got down to the level where you catch the subway and did get on the needed one in our first try, but barely. We were squeezed so tight that I was afraid Claire was going to be crushed. She is at the wrong height for a really thick crowd of adult people (I’m talking thicker than I have ever been in my life). People for obvious reasons are not looking down and don’t expect to see young children this time of day. Again, no one is being aggressive or mean, just focused on their own needs. I was so afraid she was going to be crushed that I put my legs around her and sort of hopped along with the crowd. I tried to a position my legs so she could still breathe. I’m not kidding; she had everyone’s behinds directly in her face, so she was being smothered. Riley and Aiden stayed right by me luckily, they are taller so it wasn’t as much of a problem for them. If I was stronger I would have put Claire on my shoulders, but I didn’t think about it until after it happened. Plus, then I would have been top heavy and would probably have gotten knocked over myself. After everyone got situated they realized there was a young child under all of them and they went out of their way to find a safe place for her. An elderly man let her sit by him and we moved closer to her. Boy that was an experience, not one I want to re-live, but glad I did so I really understood what people had warned me about! We were lucky the stop we wanted was the one many others wanted, so we just moved with the crowd to get off. Otherwise, I’m not sure how a group of four of us gets off when it’s this busy. No one understands us, so I can’t say “excuse me get the heck out of my way”. I'll have to have Aiden look that up too I guess.

No pictures today...you can go to my http://www.facebook.com/ page, register, become my friend and see a ton of pictures if you want. I'll probably do pictures with tomorrow's post, I'm just tired of writing at this computer today. Also, I love all the emails and posts....it makes me feel a bit closer to home. I haven't been away from home for this long before and I miss everyone already!