some of the buildings in my apartment complex have little stores in
one of the first floor "apartments." usually what could have been an
apartment is entirely converted into a store, although i think sometimes
the family who runs the store actually still lives in the apartment
too! i'm not entirely sure about that, but there are back rooms in some
of these small stores that are never quite visible.
the store like this i go to most often is in the building next door. it's the closest store that has a fairly good selection of things i actually need. there is a store in my building, but it only has a small selection of drinks and snacks and vegetables. very small selection, and often not looking so good. i only go there if i only need to buy eggs, though i like the lady who works there.
in the store in the building next door, they have a selection of snacks, oil, rice, drinks, vegetables, and fruit. they have fruits and vegetables that actually look good (not withered or looking like they've been sitting around for awhile), and kinds that i actually use when i cook. it's really nice to be able to just go down there if i forget i don't have an onion, or a potato, or something like that.
so today i go over to the store to get a few vegetables. i only take with me a small bag and my wallet and keys. i totally forget the card that lets me in my building's front door, but i'll come back to that later. when i come into the store, the approximately 10 year old boy, who is the family's second child, announces to his dad that someone has come into the store. their other child is a girl around 16 who i have talked to briefly about her math homework before. all of them can be found randomly around the store whenever i go in there--the girl studying her high school textbooks at the counter next to the cash register, the boy set up with his bowl of noodles on top of a crate in the vegetable room, the dad or the mom puttering around the store.
today i pick out my vegetables and take them to the counter to be weighed. the boy is behind the counter, and the dad comes from the back of the store. i expect the dad to go behind the counter and weigh things and it add it all up for me like he usually does, but today he tells the boy what to do. he tells the boy the price per jin (half kg) of each different vegetable, and the boy enters it in on the scale and then adds up everything on the calculator. (by the way, this calculator speaks for each button that is pressed. fancy stuff. also would drive me crazy if i had to hear it all day!) he looks to his dad for each thing to make sure he's doing it right. his dad tells him to hurry up with the calculator. i give the boy the money, and he gives me change. i wonder if i'm seeing an apprenticeship in action! i wonder if this boy will grow up to own a store in an apartment building too. i wonder what he dreams, and what he thinks of his life.
when i get back to the front of my building, i realize the door is locked and i don't have my card. but no problem. the side window of the building's lobby is always left open for situations like this. i go around and climb up and through the open window and head towards the elevator. other buildings don't have side windows like that and people take it upon themselves to completely shatter one of the glass doors so that people who forget or don't have a card can just step through. i can be glad that i live in a building where people just leave the side window open instead.
the concept of security here is interesting. technically the buildings are secure, but people always find a way around it. people would rather be lazy and not have a card or forget their card than allow the building where they live to be truly secure. and yesterday in the train station, i accidentally was using the wrong train ticket to try to get out of the train station. obviously it wouldn't go through the machine, so when i handed it to the man, he told me i had the wrong ticket. i stepped to the side to find the right ticket in my bag, but he pushed me to just go through. apparently it doesn't matter if you don't have the right ticket or not! i could have gotten off at totally the wrong train station and they wouldn't have known. or maybe they just thought it would be too much hassle to deal with a foreigner who couldn't understand them and just wanted to get rid of me? and in every subway station in shanghai, they have security people with an x-ray machine at the entrances to the station. there is a person behind the x-ray machine, and a person off to the side who stands there motioning continually towards the x-ray machine. i assume this implies, "you should put your bag on the machine." but every single person just walks directly by this display and is never stopped. and the security person behind the x-ray machine keeps sitting there. and the other security person keeps motioning towards the machine.
the store like this i go to most often is in the building next door. it's the closest store that has a fairly good selection of things i actually need. there is a store in my building, but it only has a small selection of drinks and snacks and vegetables. very small selection, and often not looking so good. i only go there if i only need to buy eggs, though i like the lady who works there.
in the store in the building next door, they have a selection of snacks, oil, rice, drinks, vegetables, and fruit. they have fruits and vegetables that actually look good (not withered or looking like they've been sitting around for awhile), and kinds that i actually use when i cook. it's really nice to be able to just go down there if i forget i don't have an onion, or a potato, or something like that.
so today i go over to the store to get a few vegetables. i only take with me a small bag and my wallet and keys. i totally forget the card that lets me in my building's front door, but i'll come back to that later. when i come into the store, the approximately 10 year old boy, who is the family's second child, announces to his dad that someone has come into the store. their other child is a girl around 16 who i have talked to briefly about her math homework before. all of them can be found randomly around the store whenever i go in there--the girl studying her high school textbooks at the counter next to the cash register, the boy set up with his bowl of noodles on top of a crate in the vegetable room, the dad or the mom puttering around the store.
today i pick out my vegetables and take them to the counter to be weighed. the boy is behind the counter, and the dad comes from the back of the store. i expect the dad to go behind the counter and weigh things and it add it all up for me like he usually does, but today he tells the boy what to do. he tells the boy the price per jin (half kg) of each different vegetable, and the boy enters it in on the scale and then adds up everything on the calculator. (by the way, this calculator speaks for each button that is pressed. fancy stuff. also would drive me crazy if i had to hear it all day!) he looks to his dad for each thing to make sure he's doing it right. his dad tells him to hurry up with the calculator. i give the boy the money, and he gives me change. i wonder if i'm seeing an apprenticeship in action! i wonder if this boy will grow up to own a store in an apartment building too. i wonder what he dreams, and what he thinks of his life.
when i get back to the front of my building, i realize the door is locked and i don't have my card. but no problem. the side window of the building's lobby is always left open for situations like this. i go around and climb up and through the open window and head towards the elevator. other buildings don't have side windows like that and people take it upon themselves to completely shatter one of the glass doors so that people who forget or don't have a card can just step through. i can be glad that i live in a building where people just leave the side window open instead.
the concept of security here is interesting. technically the buildings are secure, but people always find a way around it. people would rather be lazy and not have a card or forget their card than allow the building where they live to be truly secure. and yesterday in the train station, i accidentally was using the wrong train ticket to try to get out of the train station. obviously it wouldn't go through the machine, so when i handed it to the man, he told me i had the wrong ticket. i stepped to the side to find the right ticket in my bag, but he pushed me to just go through. apparently it doesn't matter if you don't have the right ticket or not! i could have gotten off at totally the wrong train station and they wouldn't have known. or maybe they just thought it would be too much hassle to deal with a foreigner who couldn't understand them and just wanted to get rid of me? and in every subway station in shanghai, they have security people with an x-ray machine at the entrances to the station. there is a person behind the x-ray machine, and a person off to the side who stands there motioning continually towards the x-ray machine. i assume this implies, "you should put your bag on the machine." but every single person just walks directly by this display and is never stopped. and the security person behind the x-ray machine keeps sitting there. and the other security person keeps motioning towards the machine.
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