Retail Therapy

I'm not usually one to indulge in Retail Therapy.

I tend to enjoy shopping only when I have enough money to cover what I want.

And if I know pretty specifically what I want, and where to find it.

And if all of that goes as well as planned, or better.

I'm very much an in-and-out kind of shopper.

But Friday, I needed to indulge.

Friday morning was not much. The girls slept until a reasonable time. We ate a nice breakfast together. We went for a walk, which turned into a ride on the Metro to a restaurant for lunch. The restaurant was good - Chinese, with mainly native Chinese diners, with mainly Chinese speaking staff, with a menu in both Chinese and English. We're breaking out, friends!

The walk back to the Metro felt long, as the girls were both tired and we didn't have our stroller. I love our stroller, and will sing its praises any day of the week. But its failure is that, even though it is small for a double stroller, it is still too big to carry on the metro. Or to fold up into the trunk of a taxi. So we walked. Carrying S--. Allowing L-- to walk or be carried. This starts to wear on us after a while, so by the time we returned to the hotel I was worn. Dave put the kids down for a nap, and I headed for Super Brand Mall. Although I don't think it puts American malls to shame, it does contain a Toys R Us with good prices on diapers. And it will be within walking distance of our chosen home. So I set off, in search of both diapers and a relaxing afternoon.

The mall has at least 7 floors, plus 2 basements. And no directory. At the top of each escalator is a small list of shops on that floor, but I realized halfway through that the directories do not list every shop. On the roller coaster of emotions that is every day, I was going down quickly. After a ridiculous amount of searching for what is really a very large store, I found Toys R Us. I've also memorized its location - 4th floor middle, stroller access at the back door.

Once in, Toys R Us in China is just any other Toys R Us. The staff even spoke a little bit of English, and brought me a bag when I was carrying two large packages of diapers. The roller coaster was riding back up - I was starting to feel good. After picking up the diapers and cups that I came searching for, I glanced at the strollers. An extra umbrella stroller, the type that sells for $20 in America, would be handy and make the metro much more negotiable. Unfortunately, those strollers sell for closer to $50 or $60 in China. Bummer.

But then I found something that was very exciting. The roller coaster just kept going up - that wonderful feeling in the pit of my stomach was building! I found a single stroller that only weighs a few pounds, and folds so small that it can be carried like a briefcase. Eureka! Forget that it cost twice as much as the other strollers - this tool would open up the world to me! With S-- in a backpack and L-- in this stroller, I should be able to manipulate the metro by myself. The city of Shanghai just grew from within-walking-distance-of-my-home to within-walking-distance-of-the-metro. Tremendous!

I bought it.

And then had to work the system to get it - take a slip, go to the register, pay, take another slip, go to the back door, pick it up. Carrying both a (remarkably light stroller folded into a) rather large box and a bag full of diapers, I headed out. The perfect ending to this trip would be a magazine and a cup of coffee. I had passed the Starbucks, but needed to find the magazine. With no directory, this would be a challenge. And by the time I found it, the roller coaster was quickly going down. My luggage had become quite heavy and unwieldy, going first down and then up the escalators to find Chaterhouse bookstore tucked away on the 6th floor.

Chaterhouse seems to be the primary English language bookseller in Shanghai, which is not saying much. Although the stores do seem to carry interesting books on travel and on Shanghai, their fiction listings are both sparse and expensive, and their children's listings tend only to carry the large series which generally are lacking in quality. The only available magazines were fashion and That's Shanghai. I had been seeking an escape, but an expat view of Shanghai would do. I bought the magazine, headed to Starbucks for my new favorite drink - an iced green tea latte conconction with some sort of berry syrup on top, not exactly the link but close. Relaxing in a soft chair, reading my magazine, eating my pastry and drinking my creamy tea made the day feel like a success.