Two posts today.
Yesterday I headed downtown for my 3rd visit and second trip for shopping. I returned to the Dong Men Commercial section. This is a mix of standard retail stores, smaller market type areas and an indoor flea market type area. You can literally find anything you want here and as I was looking for some Nike running shoes, I certainly got to add another life experience to my collection. Following a few of the players who had previously been in this area, we were led to a closed garage door which after a knock was opened to expose shelves full of samples. Once you enter, the door closes behind you and you start to look for what you want. The language of course presents a barrier but funny enough you find ways to the messages back and forth using calculators, writing on paper and a collection of hand signals. Best part is trying to tell them which model and color you want in which size. More often than not, they will bring you the required size in another color or the right color in another size, and then proceed to convice you that this one is better than what you wanted and that the size really can fit you, even when it means putting a 9 one my size 10.5 feet. And then finally once you have found what you want, there the bartering starts. Between those of us there, we were purchasing 10 pairs and initially got the price down from 180RMB to 150 RMB which is what most of the players had previously paid. We tried to get it lowered and even hinted we would leave and not take any shoes at all, but they tried to call our bluff. Considering we were asking for 10RMB less or something like $1.50, it wasn't about the money but trying to win the bartering. In the end we took all the shoes at 150 RMB. I added a couple of additional purchases including a 2nd pair of Ray ban sunglasses not because I needed them but because it was fun to have gotten than at 1/4 of the initial price they wanted. I will head back to another market tomorrow to spend some cash , have some fun bartering and get my final glimpse of downtown Sh
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
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