Small, furry animals

The title kind of makes you think about cute little kittens or fuzzy little dogs, doesn't it? Come on, need I remind you that I blog about China? This ain't no story about fido. . .

Today I had to make a quick run to Carrefour, like most of you might run to your local grocery store, as I needed diapers and a few things for dinner. I know, just reading the name Carrefour can make shudders go through the bodies of my repatriated friends. Carrefour is French-based megastore that has food and a little bit of everything else - sort of like a SuperTarget or Walmart, only not as nice. Don't get me wrong, Carrefour in other international markets like Europe or Singapore/Hong Kong can be quite nice. But TIC, folks, (this is China); nice is a serious stretch.

Normally, I try to avoid Carrefour, but they do have the best price on the brand of diapers that I use, and admittedly, lately they have been improving in their prices and the amount of imports they carry. So, off I went. Things went well - I got most things, didn't find others - the normal shopping experience. Then I went to checkout. I was standing there people watching (a serious sport here in Shanghai) while waiting for my turn at check-out (not too bad, about a ten minute wait). When suddenly in front of me, I spot a rat running by. When I say in front of me, I'm not talking about twenty feet - I'm talk about 1-2 feet! Although calm and collected on the outside, I must admit that I got a little freaked out.

Now, I have to admit; it was a quick look - that little thing flew by pretty quickly. It honestly could have been say. . . a chipmunk? Although certainly not of the cute Chip and Dale variety. All I know is that it was about the size of the rat and was fast. I suppose one might see a rat in the grocery stores at home, although I have to say it never happened in the 30 plus years I was living in the States. Perhaps just seeing it might not have bothered me so much. But, I happened to notice that two manager-type people also saw this rat go by, but instead of showing concern, they pointed and laughed! Makes me think it wasn't such an odd occurrence.

Which got me thinking. If rats are a regular (or even semi-regular) occurrence in this grocery store, what are they feasting on? The store closes at 10:30 pm each night, which I think leaves plenty of time to hop up on those huge vegetable and fruit tables. What about that meat and seafood left out without any packaging (yeah, not so much with the packaging of meat here)? I continue to get more and more freaked out the longer I think about it. Which probably means I need to stop thinking about it. I've got five more months left here, and I doubt I can go that long without shopping at Carrefour. So, I'll try to banish that image from my mind. But, until then, Bob's doing all the shopping.