Chinatown Diaries

Christina and I live in Chinatown. Fact. My father said, "if you're lost, just follow the Chinese and you'll get home." Fact. We are in the middle of a war? Maybe?

This entire blog post came to be thanks to shoes. I, being obsessed with shoes, nearly died when I found a beautiful pair of leather short, studded, brown heels. They were beautiful and I am currently obsessed with studs. Obsessed. So, I thought it had to be destiny that Christina and I were wandering down a busy street in our neighborhood, full of Chinese owned stores stock full of the same stuff, and she happened to eye the shoes in the window. The rest of the shoes were cheap looking and hideous. "The hidden gem," as she termed it. And could it be? Only 22€ ? Couldn't be... of course they had my size (I have a small foot) and so I asked for the match.

"Non c'e'....in magazzino" ("They're not here....in the warehouse") - replied the sales woman. Christina and I both looked at each other, soooo, are you going to get them? She informed us that it would take her an hour or more or we could come back tomorrow evening. Being that we lived around the corner, I said I'd be back tomorrow evening, please be ready.

Last night I dreamed about the shoes, thought about every possible outfit I could wear them with; thought about different pictures I could take one night out to make sure they got some well deserved camera time as well. Christina and I met up after work (and school for her) and walked home together and stopped off at the store to get the shoes. We get into the store, there are three guy teens gathered outside chatting, a man sitting on the floor in the store talking to the woman I talked to yesterday and some other woman sitting behind the "counter." I look at the woman I spoke with yesterday and she seems SURPRISED to see me. The shoe is on the counter, where I left it yesterday. I go pick up the shoe in hopes it'll spark her memory and get NOTHING. I want this shoe.
"Twenty minutes. In warehouse" - woman
"Twenty minutes???" - me
"Five minutes." - man sitting on the floor
"Ok, well, I want them, please get them....and they're 22?" - me to the man
"Uhhhhh" - man, looking at woman who could CARE LESS about this sale
"No, 45" - woman
We go to the window display and point to the price. "It's wrong." - her reply
So, I put the shoe on the floor and we leave in a huff. How does the store NOT have a SINGLE shoe in the store?? NOT ONE! And the woman is clearly NOT there to sell shoes.

Now, Christina and I have been living in our apartment for about a month now and we apparently have a "warehouse" next to our apartment because EVERY NIGHT I see unmarked vans loading up "merchandise." Now, I've seen the stores and I have never seen anyone actually buy anything. And the stores all only have ONE thing. Like a store that ONLY sells socks, shoes, jeans, or purple knit things. And yet, I don't see people walking around in these things. Now, I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but after my sales woman was NOT interested in making a sale and didn't even HAVE merchandise to sell, my curiosty got the best of me.

So I consulted Google. Fact.
And what do you know, a ton of information and articles came up. Apparently there was a huge protest in 2007 by the Chinese immigrants in Milan due to some "discrimination." It is referred to as the "Pushcart War." You can decide for yourself.
In other Google results, I came across this video.

I'm not really sure what to think. However, I now know that just because they seem to be working in a store, does NOT mean they have any merchandise. Fact.