Pabst Blue Ribbon and congested supermarkets

Just when you think you've seen it all, you see PBR at the local supermarket...and for .33 cents a can! This was my first real supermarket excursion since I've been here. And sadly, the bulk of what I purchased was not food (or beer). Things like bath towels, dish rack, forks, glasses, pillows, etc...I went this past Wednesday, as I had the day off for Dragon Boat Festival, a Chinese national holiday. I mention this because learning how to survive here is basically a daily process of trial and error. On this particular day I learned that never again will I set foot in a supermarket on a Chinese national holiday. The whole experience brought new meaning to the term 'every man for himself.' Living in China, one of the first things that you notice is that the Chinese are oblivious to what we regard as one's 'personal space.' It just doesn't exist here. Five minutes into my shopping extravaganza I found myself pushing peoples' grocery carts out of my way...(think bumper cars.) The first 'bump' felt a little weird. I was 100% prepared for the person pushing that cart to start yelling at me in Chinese. But they didn't. With my confidence up, I began dashing down aisles and bumping any cart that got in my way. Because trust me when I say that you could literally stand there for 30 minutes just waiting for someone to get out of your way and allowing you to pass. It was such a sh*t show in there that by the end of my shopping I had resorted to placing my hand on shoulders and physically moving people out of my way. Trying to have your produced weighed is also interesting. A friend had warned me that if you want this done you must fight your way up there. You see in China, it is perfectly acceptable to cut in front of others who are waiting in line...regardless of how long that person may have been patiently waiting in line themselves. An old woman, sneaky little thing, knowingly bulldozed her way in front of me in an attempt to have her produce weighed out before mine. I was not letting that happen. Being 5'8", I simply jutted a hip in front of her while simultaneously grabbing her produce off of the scale and placing mine on it. "Nice try, lady," may or may not have escaped my lips and I felt like an asshole. But then I remembered that I was in China, and that manners are one of the many amenities that simply do not exist here.