B and I went to the mall today for 2 hours while the kids were at school. That alone is blog worthy and amazing. We have both kids in school half the day. I am not over it.

You know how in China there's that stereotype about no respect for personal space? It's totally true and never more apparent than when you are at the mall. Looking at the size S on a rack in a store? It's only 12 inches wide but so are 3 other people.

Trying to get on the escalator? So are 10 other people so get in line. Never in my life did I think I would come to see waiting in line to get on an escalator a normal event.

Trying to get into the mall? Well so are a bunch of other people, not to mention the people who are trying to come out. So deal with it. And don't expect any body to hold the door for you.

Did I ever tell you the story about the time I took my kids to McDonald's when I opened the door and held it open FOR MY KIDS and a grown man totally about knocked them over as he walked through the door as I held it open FOR MY KIDS. And then he proceeded to get in line in front of me! I was so annoyed! But karma is awesome--a new line got opened and he was .001 seconds too late because Flo Jo here was on it. And I totally gave him the stink eye as I flew by and threw my purse into his elbow (which honestly was an accident but I let him think it was on purpose). Ha!

There was a point today--we were in the Adidas store with 300 other people--when I said to B "Is it just me or is this store full of exceptional people who are purposefully trying to get in our space?" He just replied "I'm out" and headed to the door. We were cracking up.

I want to buy a hair straightener. I have never owned one so I am just seeing what brands I can find and getting some prices. We went to Fortress today which is a Best Buy-type place to see what they had. The sales guy asked if we had any questions and saw that I was looking at the flat irons. He was very helpful and directed me to some that I hadn't noticed further down the aisle. He picked up a box that contained a straightener that came with multiple accessories like a curling iron, crimper, etc. I barely looked at it--not what I want. But the conversation was THE BEST.

Him:"Here is one with many accessory. You get curl iron (which sounded something like kew el iwo) and uh... this to do what picture on box show." Which was crimp.
Me: "Oh wow you never know when you might need a crimper." Then I realized I was about to talk too much so I switched gears. "No need for accessories, only straightener."

But he was intrigued.

Him: "Um what word you say for this style of hair in English?"
Me: "It's called crimping. Uhhh... to crimp is the verb." (I paused to make sure this is the type of information he wanted and clearly it was.)
Him: "Cwimp?"
Me: "Yes, crimp."
Him: (thinks about that damn dreaded r really hard) "Crimp. Crimp."
So I continued "Yes. Crimp. You say her hair (girl on the box) is crimped. This tool (pictured on the box) is called a crimper. Like C R I M P. Crimp."

He then took his index finger and wrote imaginary letters on the box to spell it out in English in his mind which must be a mental tool they learn in school because I've seen that often.

B laughed and told the guy he picked the right person and if he had any English questions he should ask me. We all laughed. It was funny.

But I think I made that guy's day. Talk about a near useless word in English--he's totally going to be the first of his friends to be able to throw that one around.