SHOP TIL YOU DROP

Buenas! (shortcut for Buenos Días, Buenos Tardes, Buenos Noches…a sweet and simple way to say “Hello” at any time of the day.) We had wonderful visit with Mark and Shannon during Valencia’s crazy annual festival – Las Fallas. Ed has some thoughts to share about that wild experience, but that’s another post for another day. Stay tuned. In the meantime, we’ve embraced the “shop til you drop” approach to life as an Expat.

Expat day #53

Mark & Shannon in Valencia!

El Corte Inglés is a Madrid-based department store chain (largest in Europe) with a big presence throughout Spain. The Valencia store is in two separate buildings – one is household stuff, the other clothing and personal care items. The El Corte Inglés household goods store feels like our second Valencian home. The six floors contain everything you could possibly imagine, and it can be a bit overwhelming. One day, I was looking for an iron and found the iron section in two rows – steam irons on one row, dry irons on the other. My decision to buy a plancha de vapor narrowed the options down to about 30. That’s right, 30 different steam irons to choose from. On our way out with my new iron, we passed the row displaying immersion blenders – 28 different brands.

It’s been a busy time in Valencia! We were so thrilled to have Mark and Shannon visit us for a week. We enjoyed sharing our new city with them. The week they were here was the final week of Valencia’s annual festival – Las Falles. Wow! What an experience that was! It’s difficult to describe the scene and the experience – think Mardi Gras on massive steroids with lots of firecrackers. Stay tuned for Ed’s insights about this amazing event.

Learning to Shop

We’ve made good progress making a home here. The new mattress is comfy, and the sheets fit! We make and receive calls using our Spanish phone numbers. We have a debit card to draw Euros from our Spanish bank account. We moved out of the temporary rental and are settling into our new place. Of course, this has required lots of shopping. Our three main shopping options have included El Corte Inglés, various el Chinos, and Amazon (still trying to wean myself). Each provide plenty of opportunity for learning!

Another item on my shopping list was a throw – you know, those small, decorative blankets we throw over the sofa. I thought I’d have to consult Google Translate to be sure the clerk didn’t think I was planning to toss a sofa somewhere. Instead, I looked around and saw the word “manta” on signs above blankets for the bed and I came up with “¿Tienes una manta pequeña?” It worked! (I’m so proud of myself for this small accomplishment, but also for finding that upside down question mark using my keyboard just now.) El Corte Inglés can be mentally exhausting. Fortunately, there’s a taxi stand just outside to make getting the goods home a breeze and a glass of wine to enjoy at one of numerous cafes near our new place.

Lastly, the Amazon shopping experience is a familiar one but does contribute to my goal of becoming more proficient at communicating in Spanish. Amazon’s Spain website allows me to shop and purchase items in English, but all the follow-up emails regarding purchases and delivery status are in Spanish. Then, there’s the process of navigating the Amazon app in Spanish to open the delivery locker in the nearby small supermercado.  

CHINA STORES

Shopping option #2 – el Chino. When we were here last September, there was a store we walked past every day that seemed like a version of a Dollar Store in the U.S. Lots of cheap stuff, all made in China. Some of our expat friends mentioned shopping at the “China Stores” and I wasn’t sure how I felt about using this term – if felt pejorative and disrespectful. Now, I’ve shopped in a few of these stores and learned a bit about them. Usually they’re called something like “Chino Bazaar” or “Asia Bazaar” but locals refer to them as “el Chino.”  They’re everywhere – so far, I’ve found four el Chinos within a 5-minute walk from our apartment. They vary in size, and all are absolutely stuffed with every conceivable item you can think of.

Some interesting background…until relatively recently, there were no convenience stores in Spain. Retail had always been a highly regimented and regulated affair: you bought your newspapers from the newspaper stand; your cigarettes (and bus passes?) from the tobacco store; medicine from the pharmacy; bread and milk at the grocer’s – or more recently, the supermercado (supermarket); etc. There are thousands of these little shops all over Valencia, and they have similar opening and closing hours. Typically, they are open from 10am to 1:30pm and from 5.30pm to 8.30pm (lunch is at 2 and is followed by siesta). While shops in the tourist areas are an exception, it’s not uncommon to find even supermarkets closed for 2-3 hours every afternoon. Don’t worry, we’re learning to enjoy siesta time!

Anyway, back to the el Chinos. It would have been almost impossible to find a Chinese person in Spain prior to the 1980s. (General Franco’s dictatorship wasn’t too keen on communist China.) Since the early 2000’s, identifying a need, Chinese immigrants have dedicated themselves to the opening of these stores. They are all owned and staffed by Chinese families who sometimes speak a little Spanish and usually no English. These stores have been a game changer for Spain. There are often rumblings in the press about how success of these stores’ rests on sweatshop labor practices. But, their products, and especially the very low prices, are very popular. So, the el Chino is now a feature of Spanish life.

The el Chino store has three main characteristics: it stocks a little bit of everything; it is not luxuriously outfitted (let’s just say they don’t invest much in appearances); and it hardly ever closes (definitely not for siesta). Inside the el Chino things are often somewhat ramshackle. Also, being open all the time, reinforces the stereotype that exists among the Spanish of the hardworking Chinese. In fact, in Spain, the phrase for killing yourself working is “trabajando como un chino” (working liking a Chinese).

PLAN B

This week brings more adventure. In addition to our regular visit to El Corte Inglés, we have an appointment at the Police Department to get fingerprinted for our residence card, cocktail hour with a big group of expat friends, and we leave for a 12-day get-away to Italy on Friday!

Adiós, hasta la próxima.