(Guest Writer: Howie Fitzgerald)
Our timing during this trip, relatively speaking, has been good. Beijing is normally a very cold and dreary city in January, but we were fortunate enough to have weather in the 30s and we enjoyed sunshine for the most part. That said, it was still very cold (we are so spoiled in California!) and we decided to buy a winter coat for Mrs. Khursheed. Our guide recommended a "big mall" and we were off. The building was HUGE. It was probably a little bit bigger than most American malls, but it had six stories. While we are definitely not the kind of people who like to shop or hang out in malls, we were secretly impressed with the rampant consumerism.
The exchange rate in China is currently around 7.8 to 1, but we were under the impression that it was around 5 to 1 when we departed. This left us with a rather inflated sense of price, especially when it came to expensive things like clothing. Thus, we decided to pass on the mall purchases.
One of the things that I love about travelling to foreign countries is the fact that the language barrier forces you to think about the small details in new ways. Once we returned to the hotel, Arifa and I took a jaunt around our neighborhood to see what we could find, and we came upon a couple little clothing shops. We found a jacket that we liked, amd after some uncomfortable jesturing, I believe the young sales woman determined that we needed a large for Arifa's mom. That said, it is really hard to tell what she thought, but she seemed amused nonetheless.
Arifa here... Howie had to run off. Anyway, I was particularly impressed with my sign language to ask what time the store closed. I pointed to my watch and then took my hands and closed them in front of my face. She got the point. Yay for impromptu sign language! We brought my mom back to the store before they closed and got her a coat. It's a good thing, too, because even with the big coat she was freezing.
