Traumatized at the supermarket

Yesterday the kids and I had to drop off the registration papers and deposit for Lydia's preschool. The building we had to go to is located right next to a little grocery store called "Park n Shop" (which I just realized is a very humorous name because no one in their right mind would actually drive in China, so who is doing the 'park' portion?"). Anyway, they carry a lot of foods I'm used to seeing at relatively normal prices. I decided we'd load up Marcus' stroller basket with a few food items we needed before heading home.

Apparently I'm still getting acquainted with the monetary system (and was hungry for lunch) because by the time I got to the checkout I had 360 RMB worth of food and only 178 RMB to spend.

Memories of shopping in Prague immediately overcame my brain. I could feel my body temperature rising and my face getting flushed. Not knowing how to communicate that I was short of cash I just started taking things back out of the stroller basket and putting them back on the counter one at a time. Thankfully the workers at this store speak a little bit of English... enough for me to apologize over and over and over and for them to say "No problem". Which, actually, was a pleasant change from my Prague days where this sort of transaction would've gotten me some very angry looks, shakes of the head and disgusted Czech grumbles.

I was so scarred by the experience that now I am only courageous enough to buy 1 liter of milk, a jar of jelly and two lollipops per visit. Apparently I just can't trust my RMB cost analysis abilities.