On the 4th of April, 2005 - exactly 9 years ago to this day - I finally got around to going to the local curtain shop in Xin Tai Hua Yuan, Suzhou, with the mission of purchasing some black out curtains. You see, Id been partying pretty hard, but struggling to get a decent nights rest as the early rising sun shone directly into my bedroom window. I needed some curtains that would turn the day into night. I walked into that curtain shop full of bravado, my product-laden hair shaped into something roughly resembling a David Beckham style Mohawk (or so I thought). With sunglasses perched on top of my head, I balanced my Superman pushbike outside the shop and strolled in. I was greeted by what still remains the most amazing smile Ive ever seen. Over the next thirty minutes, I used my newly learnt Chinese to describe to this smiling sales assistant the type of curtains I was after. She assured me that the black out curtains I required would be no problem and proceeded to convince me that I probably also needed some regular curtains as well. Who was I to disagree? Not being fluent in the local lingo, I assured this friendly lass that the curtains must not be too twinkly, or heaven forbid, have flowers included as a feature of the design. As luck would have it, she had just the type of curtains I was after. Who would have guessed? It was agreed that we would immediately travel the short distance to my apartment - her on her green zinky small-wheeled bike and me on Superman! The smiling sales assistant measured up the window in no time at all, but then pointed out that the curtain in the living room should match the one in the bedroom so I should buy one more. Of course, this made perfect sense to me. Now for the bargaining! Chinese numbers were my strength. I was going to show this cheeky curtain sales girl how a Woodsy negotiates! (In the end, she only charged me double). So after near on two hours of negotiation, final curtain order and price agreement you can only imagine my surprise when the conversation, which to this point had been carried out completely in Chinese, suddenly switched to English. Youre very handsome. Id like to buy you dinner. (It later transpired that had the truth at this point been spoken, what should have been said was Youre a stupid foreigner, but kind of fun. I want you to teach me English.) Say what! Not only did I purchase a super cheap set of curtains for my apartment, I was also going to get a free dinner!!! The dinner ended up being a 5rmb bowl of noodles washed down with a 3rmb beer. Lanzhou la mian - still a favourite! That dinner was the first of thousands. The smiley sales assistant is now my amazing wife, Xiao Qin, mother or my two beautiful daughters. Rocka, you thought you made a good deal that evening, but I think Im the winner!
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 16:05:04 +0000
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