chapter 6 - new clothes

After her first month in China, Alyssa embarrassingly had to tell Austin that she needed to buy some new clothes, but had no idea where to find clothes in China that would fit her. Austin said "that is easy, any of the big counterfeit markets will have them as they cater to westerners". Alyssa replied "That is good, are they expensive?". Austin told her he would help her bargain with them for a good price.

They got on the subway and Austin took her to a huge counterfeit mall that was under a museum of all places. High quality designer fakes were everywhere in a sea of stalls. They spent the day with Alyssa shopping, trying on clothes (at best there would be curtain to stand behind), and Austin bargaining with the vendors. By the end of the day she had bought an entirely new wardrobe that fit her and they carried her bags back to the hostel.

She put the clothes up once they got back and she told Austin she was disappointed in herself for gaining weight. Austin told her she looked great and he didn't know what she was talking about. He said she is a westerner with an entirely different body type that the vast majority of Chinese women and she shouldn't compare herself to them. This made Alyssa feel better. Still though, she wondered how much she had actually gained "I wish there was a scale here somewhere". Austin said "Oh there is, up where you hang your laundry to dry. I can show you".

He lead her through the hostel and up to a balcony area where guests hung their laundry rather than paying to use the dryer. He showed her the scale, and changed it over to pounds rather than kilos for her. He then left her, knowing she would not want him there when she weighed herself. Alyssa slipped off her shoes, emptied her pockets, and stepped onto the scale. A few seconds later the display read 178 pounds. She couldn't believe it. She stepped off the scale, picked it up and shook it, and stepped on it again. A few seconds later, the display read again, 178 pounds. Even with subtracting 4 pounds for clothes, that meant she had gained 21 pounds since arriving in China a month ago. That is ridiculous she thought to herself. I am only 5'2, that is a lot of weight for someone my size. Feeling disappointed in herself, she walked back to her room and sulked while drinking a beer.