Meagan's World: Shopping on Arab Street

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Shopping on Arab Street

My favorite day in Singapore is the day that Grandma and I went shopping on Arab Street. I am not sure why it was my favorite day...I am not a huge fan of shopping and most of the stuff for sale was similar to things I have seen before, in India and Indonesia. I didn't even buy much, plus it was raining. Despite all of this, it was my favorite day. For some reason it was really fun.

Grandma bought a lot of stuff at one shop in particular. I think it was called Dilip's Textiles or something like that. It was owned by an Indian family and they were very nice. I am not sure what it is about Grandma, but we got the royal treatment wherever we went! There was a very old and frail man, and I talked to him for a bit and he was very eager to talk about Delhi. I told him I had been to new Delhi and to Friend's Colony in particular, and he talked about how nice it was there and what was different about Singapore. He was nice, and his son was too. His son was in charge of the selling, and I really liked the way they didn't try to pressure you or follow you around the store like they do in a lot of stores in Asia. Grandma ended up buying alot of stuff there cause they had table cloths and sarongs and wall hangings. She also bought a lace table cloth which was alot cheaper than the one she had just bought in the US.

We walked around more, and stopped for lunch. Grandma bought alot of fabric at one store, because she wants to make a caftan. The man there was so impressed that I Grandmother and garandaughter would be travelling together. It almost brought tears to his eyes as he was telling us about how he didn't get to spend enough time with his own grandma. I think that is why Grandma and I kept getting such good reactions from people we met, they really appreciated grandparents and grandchildren spending time together. They loved it! You know, the whole "respect for elders" thing that other cultures have. (We have it too I guess, but somehow it seems less prominent in Western values.) The man at the shop was going on about how I could learn so much from Grandma and then he gave us both free gifts: tissue box covers! Haha! The other store gave us water and gave Grandma a free gift.

In the course of our trip, LOTS of people asked if Grandma was my mom. We would say, no, she is my grandma. They seemed to be amazed and intrigued by this! One time we were getting out of a taxi, and Grandma was already out on the curb, and I was still inside and the driver said, "Is that your mom?" I said, "No, it's my Grandma." He said, with a look of complete amazement and awe, "Your Grandma? But she's so fit!"

There is a sad part to that story...I told Grandma what the taxi driver said, thinking it was such a major compliment that she would be flattered. Instead she said, "He must have meant "so fat", not "so fit"!"

Anyway, it was a fun day. I bought Matt a really cool silk shirt that is baby blue, but when the light catches it at certain angles it looks magenta. Haha! I am not sure if he will ever wear it...I also got him a shirt that is made out of a paisley print material that was really common in Singapore. He has actually already worn that shirt and I think it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I don't usually buy him shirts, but for some reason they kept appearing so I figured I may as well buy them.

I kept thinking the whole day that Mom would have loved Arab Street. It had a lot the beautiful and interesting fabrics that India has, plus other types of fabric, only it was a lot cleaner and more orderly.