One Fine Day

Sunday might have been our best day in China yet – we had four incredible hours that left us smiling from ear to ear.

We set out for Superbrand Mall to try to get 220 pictures taken off our memory card and put on a CD (for reasons even he can’t adequately define, Scott put the cables to charge the digital camera on the “slow boat to China” – thus we have no way of using the camera until our shipment arrives.) At first we weren’t too confident about our prospects as we arrived at the mall and literally, had to wade through at least 13 million Shanghainese on the way to the Kodak place. However, not only were we happily greeted upon arriving at the stand, but he spoke English. So we waited for about 20 minutes to have our pictures copied. While waiting, we heard an announcement in Mandarin. We do believe this announcement was saying something about how the Americans over in photo are starring in a Candid Camera episode so go over and stare at them, then make a funny face, and then slyly smile before walking away. After being ogled by thousands of people, we headed for the grocery store.

Little did we know that our trip for toothpaste would turn into a grocery trip for the ages. (By the way Gigi, no such luck on finding imported Crest.) However, not only did we find Reese’s Pieces, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and Rolos, we also scored real Tostitos Tortilla Chips and real, straight from the plant in Atlanta probably via Latvia, Diet Coke (granted, it’s in 4oz cans, but Anne was thrilled nonetheless.) People were quite shocked to see us grab hands and dance wildly in a circle shouting “Hallelujah, Hallelujah”, but frankly, we didn’t care. Needless to say, we bought all 11 cans of Diet Coke they had and five bags of tortilla chips.

After the grocery trip we stopped by a local DVD vendor (that means a guy with box of DVDs strapped to his bike) where we found the first season of “Brothers and Sisters” (which Anne has been clamoring to find for 2 weeks) and “Finding Nemo,” all for the rock-bottom price of $6!

The best part of the day, though, was finding a new restaurant that serves sandwiches, pastas, American-like Chinese dishes, and most importantly, good salads. For 15 days, we’ve been trying to find a salad that won’t give us the runs – what a fine day!