eye exam

a lot of things here feel very westernized; beijing has a ton of malls and shopping centers carrying all of the things i could find at home.  in these places, it's just the little details that remind you that you are not in fact in a western country:  the recordings playing over loudspeakers, abrasive to my ears, announcing sales and special prices, the large number of other shoppers around you almost wherever you go, the unbelievable number of staff working at most places (in a small cellphone shop i counted 14 workers--there were 3 customers),  chicken feet, boiled eggs, and roasted chestnuts sold along side bottled drinks and bags of snacks at mall snack stands,  the way that the meat department in large grocery stores feels more like a visit to the aquarium than anything with its large variety of live fish, crabs, turtles, and other marine life (not to mention the more sinister stacks of severed pig hoofs).  But as much as this is at times unpleasant, there is a certain quality to chinese shopping that America lacks and which i miss there.  Even though China's economy and desire to expand and grow and westernize is forging full force ahead, it retains an unmistakable realness and originality that the corporations of America have all but stamped out.   In the same building as the modern superstore where i bought the turtles, aaron and i discovered a large market on the upper floor--individual stalls which people rent to sell their products, give manicures, foot acupuncture, etc.  it was really refreshing to leave the soulless wide aisles of microwaves and dvd players below and wander through the maze of tiny stalls.  we happened to wander past a stall run by an older couple selling glasses frames.  aaron has been wanting glasses for a couple years, but has put it off because it's so expensive to get the exam, and the lenses and frames.  we started looking at their frames, he found some he liked, and they gave him an eye exam which took about 10 minutes, and told us we could pick up the glasses the next day.  they were so nice to us and friendly.  they didn't have any fancy equipment--just the crazy-looking plastic glasses with the individual glass circles you slide in and out to test which prescription works for you and a lens cutting machine to the side.  anyway,  for the test and the glasses the total was 200 yuan, or about $25.  we only had 20 yuan on us for a deposit, but they said no problem.  when we got home we double-checked aaron's prescription and they had it exactly right.