Mrs. Taobao’s Blissful Sweet Memories

By Sujeewa Polgampala [Sri Lanka]

Shopping on Taobao is something I’ve never experienced before I came to China. It’s truly an interesting experience.

My amiable Chinese friends created an account for me. The first time I purchased something on Taobao and the goods reached my home, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Being a Buddhist I was then badly in need of a small Buddha statue for my religious observations and rituals, so I decided to buy one on Taobao.I searched for a “golden dainty small statue,” with a second click of the button, the order was done and I waited impatiently. I received the goods in three days.Gently opening the package, I saw my god, sacred and serene,the figurehead of my faith. Oh,my goodness! To my surprise,it was not a statue but a few packets of colorful sequence beads, a tiny bottle of glue, and a piece of cloth with a sample picture of Lord Buddha. This gave me extra homework to add to my already hectic schedule and extracurricular activities.Getting courage, I started to glue the sequence with my darling little son. Days… weeks… months passed, we’ve just made little progress. Alas! It became like a dream.

Unfinished pasting by Sujeewa Polgampala

Sujeewa Polgampala is a teacher educator from Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka, and currently a PhD candidate majoring in Higher Education in HUST, Wuhan. She loves traveling and has visited many places in China in the past three years.

I have a bunch of such funny experiences. Like every other person in China, I was counting down the days for the “Big Shopping Day 11:11,” and poised my alipay account ready for bulk item payments. I was then in Hainan Province participating in the second Belt and Road Conference. Throughout the day,I searched and added to my cart until late into the evening when my cart was full of reserved items I had been eyeing.

在淘宝上购物，是我来中国之前从未经历过的事情。

我的中国朋友为我建立一个账户。第一次在淘宝上买东西时，我简直不敢相信自己的眼睛。

当时，我急需一尊小佛像，来完成我每天的宗教仪式，便决定在淘宝上寻一寻。输入关键词“小金人雕像”，按几下按钮之后，下单程序完成，我开始焦急等待我的小佛像。三天时间，货物收到。轻启包裹，我看见了……上帝啊！那不是一尊雕像，而是几包彩色的珠子，一小瓶胶水，和一块布，上面有佛像图。这给我已经很忙碌的日程表增添了一项额外的家庭作业。我鼓起勇气，和我亲爱的儿子一同开始这项巨大的工程。一天又一天，一周又一周……几个月过去，进展寥寥，不知何日才能完工。

类似的经历，我还有很多。和许多中国人一样，“双十一”来临前，我也为之倒计时，并且充好我的支付宝账户。当时，我在海南省参加第二届一带一路会议。白天，我在网上搜索商品，直到晚上把我的购物车装得满满当当。

那天，我迷上一个精美的靠垫套，一下买了两件。然而，和上次一样，包裹到达时，我又傻了眼。这次我收到的，是几卷彩色丝带，一些丝线，和一根针。我哭笑不得，转念一想，不如把这个包裹转赠给我那位爱八卦的阿姨。她老是吹嘘自己缝纫手艺高超，这份礼物一定能帮她好好打发时光。

我丈夫和朋友们给我起了个绰号——“淘宝太太”。他们时不时取笑我，有时还很让我抓狂。

你可以叫我购物狂。不得不承认， 有时，购买新鞋、手提袋或者服装的愿望能让我把当前的计划抛诸脑后，满淘宝搜寻一些能给我带来快乐的东西。