Shopping in America

We went on a shopping road trip yesterday. We were in Auburn Hills, in the far Detroit suburbs. It was a lot like a giant mall in the middle of farmland. It was a pleasant shopping experience. The mall fills your whole mind. There is no window, and its built like a loop. So you are going in circles and entering shop after shop. It is a bit of a surreal experience. It reminded me a bit of Ikea. The only Ikea I have ever been to was in Shanghai, but it was a pretty amazing place. It is built like a circuit, and there is room after room of furniture, all arranged. It really creates a shopping experience.

I think that my American shopping experience was a bit like the American eating experience, a battle of man against food. In this case it was man against wallet, or against the exhaustion of shopping. This whole idea of going to a far away place and shopping for an entire day is a bit odd to me. In Montreal when I buy something I just go to a boutique and get that one item I need. I don,t go on a shopping spree. The mall is conceived to make you buy more than you need, and with as little effort or thought as possible. I think the abundance of things on display really makes you want to get one of the items, it's like going to a buffet, you want to get as much as you can,even if you aren't really that hungry.

I was there with a group of Chinese engineers. It is funny how they are still very Chinese, but put in this American context. It makes me think of myself in China, or any foreign country for that matter. You have to take what you like of the culture, and you end up refusing a lot of the stuff that simply isn't compatible with your beliefs or way of being. My friends here have a big problem with American food. I think they also don't enjoy American social life so much, or they simply don't have any connection to it. The whole college culture doesn't seem to attract them, nor does the bar drinking thing. I think they would be into the wholesome American side of things, but it seems to be hiding in houses, families and churches, and that's not easily accessible to a foreigner. It's odd that one of the easiest way of entering a culture is through debauchery.