Witnessed on a Saturday

Today started with a visit from the Jehovah Witnesses. I was outside watering our hibiscus tree when two nicely dressed Chinese couples carrying large golf umbrellas to protect themselves from the midday heat, stopped ouside our gate and gave me a nice, glossy, eye-catching brochure with article titles like this: "Do Jehovah witnesses believe in Jesus?"and "Ways to Reduce Stress." I thanked them politely and kept watering. 

For lunch Eric and I stumbled upon a "halal" dim sum restaurant. It wasn't until we'd dug into the first of what I'd thought was a BBQ pork bun, that my brain noticed the other diners. We were surrounded by women wearing brightly covered headscarves. My first thought was, "Do these women eat pork?" (Traditional Dim sum is very Chinese and very much filled with pork). So while Eric was telling me something about work,I lost my concentration in search of the answer to my question. And, sure enough just a above the kitchen door was the tell-tale black and white "halal" sign printed in Arabic and English.  I smiled to myself. Here was a smart businessman (or woman). By using "the other white meat" (chicken), he (or she) has increased potential customers by 70%. Adding clean toilets and soap in the bathrooms justified the higher than normal ex-pat prices! Smart, tasty, clean and halal. Great business plan.

After dropping Eric off for a 1:00 pm doctor's appointment, I was excited to explore a beautiful, clean, air conditioned Clark's Shoe Store. The pair of hippie, backpacker Birkenstocks I bought last summer - and have worn every day since - are showing their age. A brief survey of the store yielded four potential, made-for-function-and comfort styles to try on. I told the sales clerk my size: US9 or European 40. I even air wrote the numbers with my pointer finger to help with the comprehension.

A few minutes later,  two clerks came back with one pair of shoes in hand. They then returned the other three pairs to the shelf. I happily slipped on the first pair. Something felt wrong. My toes curled off the front and my heels hung off the back. Had my feet swelled this much in one year?! Is this what living in a "flip-flop" country does to my middle aged feet? I pulled off the shoes and checked the size.  Size 7 was printed in bold numbers on the back. Pheww! My feet hadn't grown. Most likely, the clerk misunderstood me. I repeated,  "I need a 9." He replied, "Yes. We don't have. We only have this one pair."
So, you thought you'd just bring out any old pair, and I'll buy it because it's a Clark?

But then I got to speculating: Perhaps this is another interesting business model. Take the free sample/floor models and see how many you can actually sell.Don't actually have any stock because that would cost money. You won't make a lot but you certainly won't loose anything.

Disappointed, but not surprised, I left the shop. Hopefully these hippie sandals will last until my next trip back to the US.

By now it was 2:00 pm and Eric was still waiting for his 1:00 pm appointment. The door was locked and the receptionists who could buzz me in was nowhere in sight. The over- full waiting room of patients seemed to get humor at my inability to get buzzed in so I took off for a walk.

The walk ended up being a good thing because I found a gorgeous fabric store! Here's a "shout out" to my mom and high school friend Cindy, both of whom would have added piles to their fabric stashes. Unfortunately for me, I was annoyed by the seven sales clerks glued to me like flies on flypaper and blocking my ability to view and touch the gorgeous silks and cottons. I know one day I'll regret not buying the beautiful raw silks at $7.50/meter for decorating our imaginary, dream retirement home, but I couldn't stand the invasion of my space bubble.

By now it was 3:10 pm and Eric, very much annoyed, had just been called into the dermatologist's office for his 1:00 pm appointment. It appears that Saturdays are busy days for Botox and skin whitening treatments, and  that an appointment is not really an appointment. The receptionist then proceeded to close most of the metal garage doors on the shop front making it almost too dark for me to type. 

About 3:45 Eric came out. On the bright side, he said the doctor was very professional and typed all her notes on a very large iPad. Contrast that with the nurse who following Eric to the payment counter with the medical billing codes inked in big black letters on the palm of her hand.

I wonder if the day would have turned out differently if I'd invited the Jehovah witnesses in for a cup of tea?