AMP Treatise

Ben and I went to the mother of all retail stores yesterday, good old American Walmart. I've only been to this fine institution once or twice in the US and I'm not a particularly big fan, but damn, I'm in the People's Republic of China and little bit of home isn't something to be scoffed at. We arrived with no particular items in mind to buy but with more of a relaxing stroll through a capitalist institution. My anticipation couldn't have been more wrong. It was like Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving. Throngs of Chinese super consumers were running around the place and of particular interest was winter coats, for some reason. It was difficult simply to navigate the shopping cart around. So much for a relaxing stroll. I'm surprised that only 45 people were injured at the grand opening 3 weeks ago. And this place is at least twice the size of Carrefour. It's basically two Carrefours on top of each other. The line for rotisserie chickens was wrapped around the hot food counter. I've really seen nothing like it in my entire life. I ended up leaving with the ingredients for a good ham and cheese sandwich, some cleaning supplies, and some granny smith apples. Outside it was pure chaos. Most places like this would have a cab stand outside so there wouldn't be mobs of people wandering around trying to find taxis and clogging up the street, which is exactly what happened. By the time we made it home, we were exhausted. From going to Walmart. How depressing is that????