Chapter 32 - Chinese Shops

Hello Again everybody,
Well I always end my blogs saying that if anyone wants certain
pictures I will try and make it happen the best I can! Which I like alot!
It gives me something to do and I do like doing little projects.
So a little photo mission of something that you wanna see, gives me alot of
enjoyment and I also get to see what you want to see in my
blogs! It's a win win situation for everyone. Now I have only done 2
photo missions so far but I hope there are more to come. First one
was the spring time photos, which Mom asked me to do...and I
delivered. Now Matt asked me to get some pics of some people doing
Thai Chi in the morning and some pics of the shops and stores. Well I
would get pictures of people doing Thai Chi but not here in this town
because I will remind everyone that I am in the "heart of china".
Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai or more Americanized Chinese and
I will be seeing alot of that once I get to those places.
For now I was only able to get a few pictures of shops around my town which might help everyone realize how remote my city is.In my town of Huayuan is there is one main road and thats is were its the busiest! Taxis, thousands of people, shops, bakeries, repair
shops, medical stores, dental shops, produce stores and some shops
that look like a family's garage sale. Now all these shops have a few
things in common. Little space but every precious inch is used! Some
of the stores it is very hard for me walk in there and turn around with my
backpack and not hit anything or knock something off the shelf.
Like today I went in this little shop that was full of yarn or string.
I was looking for some red string so in the future I would have it for my cross stitch.
Well at the entrance of the store there were 4 or 5 older women all working on
some craft...it was knitting or crocheting. I squeezed myself past
them and started browsing the selection they had to see if they had
the right string for my cross stitch. No luck, the store was so small
and packed with yarn I could not turn around to exit. I slowly walked
back a few steps where there was this opening and I felt like a huge
semi trying to navigate through a tiny neighborhood. That is the best
way that I can explain in detail how seriously small these shops
really are.
When a shop is closed there is this garage door the comes down and can
be locked on the outside. Now i have see some shops have so many
boxes out on the street while they are open that it goes to the street
and the sidewalk is a good 10 feet. Well come closing time these poor
people have to pack all those boxes back into the shop and do like
ready, set, go thing to quickly push a stack of boxes in the shop and
then hurry and close the garage door thing! I bet in the morning they go to open their shop and the instant they open that garage
door a huge stack of boxes or pipes fall to the ground because the
chinese use every inch they can. Would be interesting to see how they
would use a storage unit.
After I got the email from Matt to get some pictures of some shops
around town, this particular shop came to my mind. It has to be the
smallest shop in town but the lady that runs it is so sweet!
First about the shop... Seriously the shop is no wider than 5 feet and
10 feet deep. This lady sells umbrellas, toys, and some other nick
nacks. Times that I have walked by I have seen her be just so sweet with little
kids. Like when there were 3 kids plus 2 moms and this lady all in
this tiny shop... she was more than happy to do business and welcome them
into her crowded shop.All through town there are these shops that are the main source of a families income. They live off what they sell. Sometimes when you
are walking through a shop you will see a bed in the back and it is
probably for the whole family. It has really opened my eyes that we
should be thankful for the simple things in life. If its having
our own room, home away from work, a house with so many square feet,
or even a garage with an attic above. Its such an eye opener to
see a people be so happy with so very little! I hope I can take what
I've learned from this amazing place and put it to use in the States.
I miss everyone like crazy! I miss the good laughing times. Like the
laughing that happened on skype with Mom, Janae, and Jill! I miss
those sort of times but soon enough they will be happening again. I
love you all and you are in my prayers.
Good night. Jordan