Buying Tarp in a Foreign Country

Have you ever tried to buy a tarp in China? Well, let me tell you, it's possible. We knew it was possible because many of the shop owners have tarps to cover their things for closing up shop.

So there we were, wondering around the small street market near the new apartment, holding the cans of paint and rollers we just bought. Our first stop was a small tool shop where we found sandpaper yesterday (a feat I was quite proud of accomplishing.) After a lot of pointing and motions, we came to the conclusion it wasn't the store we were looking for.

A little farther down the street we came to another hole-in-the-wall store. The storefront was literally an opening about two standard doors wide, mostly covered by hardware things, pipes, wires, a display of random nuts and bolts, and some homemade mops. We did our pointing and dancing routine (ok, maybe no dancing, but smiling and looking like we could use some help.) And this time it worked!

The woman who emerged from behind the pile of useful stuff smiled, held up a finger, and ran back inside. She returned with a big folded piled of tarp. We asked for a few meters of it, and she started cutting.

That's where this friendly old man came in. (Yes, this story does come back around to the picture eventually.) He helped measure, hold, and fold the tarp while trying to remember a bit of English he learned long ago. Then he got on his bicycle and rode away.

Thanks to everyone who had a little mercy on the foreigners!