My grocery nightmare

In the U.S. I look at grocery shopping with an indifferent view. Sometimes I look forward to getting groceries and other times it is a burden. However, I never hate going to the grocery store. The opposite can be said about my feelings of grocery shopping in China.

Today I had two experiences with grocery stores. The first, was fine. I was indifferent towards it, as usual. I biked down to the import store right outside of my neighborhood and grabbed a few things that I could find there. However, it's a small store and everything is waay over priced ($10 for a box of cereal). This meant that I would have to make the dreaded trip to a Carrefour, Tesco, or Wal-Mart. Today, it was Carrefour.

I've decided that large grocery stores in China are hell on Earth. Here is why:
-there are so many people and you can't walk anywhere. It's like Black Friday in America, except I can't speak the same language as anyone.
-there are yellow signs everywhere and it's a sensory overload
-the meat area smells so bad that you want to barf. It's also full of pieces and parts of meat that you are never supposed to see
-the fruit area also smells bad thanks to the durian (a pokey fruit that is banned from public transportation in Singapore because of its stench)
-you have to weigh all of the fruits...including bananas...who weighs bananas?
-chinese people may be some of the most impatient people ever, especially in grocery stores
-salespeople talk on microphones. They will be standing next to you, just chatting away...in a microphone...in your ear.
-Also, I never know where anything is. That's probably just a personal problem though.

I finally made it out of Carrefour after 30 minutes of what felt like a lifetime in that place. I really try and embrace all parts of culture when I'm in different countries, but this is the one I've had the hardest time with. Hence, my rant.

Ok, I'm done.

p.s.-again sorry for the lack of pictures. I've tried more proxies and still can't figure out a way to get pictures on here. The commies have me beat.