The global tour | I was in Bahrain
Hello everyone, I am Shen Dianqi, a field traveler who travels the world and pays attention to Chinese people around the world.
The day before yesterday, I wrote the story of the sudden death of the Chinese lao yin in Bahrain, which caused a great reaction, and today we continue to talk about lao yin's own story.
1, for the daughter to go abroad for future tuition
Lao Yin is a native of Jiangsu and has been in Bahrain for four years, before he had been in China, because his relatives opened supermarkets in the Middle East, so he also came to Bahrain four years ago to help relatives look at the store.
Lao Yin said that he has a daughter who is now studying at an international school in his hometown, and her daughter's goal is to study in the Uk, so he is fighting in Bahrain to prepare for his daughter's future studies (studying in the UK is a big expense).
2, Saudi Chinese are willing to go far to Bahrain for shopping
The supermarket where Lao Yin is located is opened in the Chinese community next to the Bahrain Dragon City Market. The residents of this community are basically Chinese merchants who have set up shops in Longcheng. There are about 900 stores, so the Chinese population is almost 2,000 people.
Lao Yin said that in addition to the Chinese in Bahrain who are his customers, in fact, there are many Chinese in Saudi Arabia who buy things here.
I said, Saudi Arabia also has Chinese supermarkets, why do you have to go to Bahrain to buy things?
Lao Yin said that because Saudi Arabia is too closed, a lot of food can not be imported, so a lot of Chinese like to eat things, Saudi Arabia can not buy, you see my shop, the domestic snacks, spices can all be bought, but Saudi Arabia's Chinese supermarkets do not have a few things.
"So the Chinese in Saudi Arabia often drive to my supermarket in Bahrain, snacks, pig's trotters, hot pot ingredients and other things, one by one, and stuff the trunk back to Saudi Arabia..."
3, Bahraini people are very conservative and do not buy Chinese goods
Occasionally, some Filipinos and Thais come to their shop to spend, but the proportion is not large.
I asked Lao Yin, are there any Arab natives coming to visit your shop?
He said: "Almost nothing, Bahraini locals are very closed, almost will not enter our supermarket, one day a Bahraini local population thirsty, came to our store to buy drinks, found that they are Chinese, even mineral water is not bought, I was because the container has space, into a few boxes of Wahaha mineral water, the price is the same as the local water, but this Bahraini is not, ask me for mineral water produced in Bahrain ... He only wants the kind of mineral water in the local script, because he feels that the Chinese stuff is not Clean Z, so he will worry about not being clean..."
4, Bangladeshi employees help cut pork
Then, Lao Yin pointed to an Indian and Pakistani guy in his shop and said, "This Bangladeshi guy is an employee in our shop." ”
I saw this Bangladeshi guy carrying a bag of black plastic bags.
I asked, what was he carrying?
Old Yin said, pork, pork bought in our store, he would take it home every night to cut it himself and send it over.
I said, wouldn't he reject it?
Lao Yin said, no, because this is his job, it is his share of the matter, but he does not eat, but he can cut.
I said, what about the Chinese snacks in his supermarket that he eats?
He said he hardly ate it, the last time I gave him a little cookie, he ate a little bit, and the Bengalis are also msl, so they eat the same diet as the Bahraini.
I said, well, you can rest assured that he won't steal the pork when he takes it home and cuts it.
Then, we let out a hearty laugh at the supermarket door "hahaha".
5, Gu supermarket is not easy
I asked Lao Yin, it is easy to open a store and it is difficult to keep a store, what is his work and rest time in the supermarket?
He said that in fact, this supermarket is for this Dragon City market, so the peak period of the supermarket is the time when the market is off.
The market closes at 12 p.m. or 1 a.m., so when he's busy, it's around 1 a.m. At that time, there would be many Chinese people who came to his shop after work to buy things.
But in the morning, he also has to open the store before the market opens, so although he says that except for the peak period, most of the time is not busy, but he can't leave, and the store must be open all the time.
I said, what's the hardest thing about opening this supermarket?
He said that the hardest thing is that a person is here, very boring, a bit like going to jail, although it is said that you can talk to customers during the peak period, but most of the time there is no one, and the family is not around, every day is almost a repetitive life pattern, people overseas, not as comfortable at home.