Purchases

Joe had to have an emergency wardrobe, so we visited the Lichuan Market a couple of blocks from the campus. They have excellent merchandise, but no one there knows much English. This was an excellent chance to use my Chinese. People understood when I said "男衬衫在哪里？” This is "nan chen shan zai na li?" in Roman letters and means "Where are the men's shirts?"


Finding wrapping paper was another matter.  We are going to a party where we will inevitably be given presents, and we want to reciprocate.  Fortunately, the presents we bought in America were in my luggage, not Joe's, but they were unwrapped.  On overseas trips, it is pointless to wrap presents in advance, since Homeland Security unwraps them when they do baggage checks.  The compound word 'wrapping paper was not covered in my Chinese lessons nor in the Rosetta Stone software. I tried pantomime. The store clerk brought me carbon paper. Fortunately, Joe is good at finding things, he finally located some on a shelf.

Joe in his new shirt.

Tags from the new shirt rest on a sheet of polka dot carbon paper.