The day that we got to Buñol, Spain for La Tomatina, the forecast called for rain. It held off for a while, but eventually it started to drizzle. Fortunately I had packed an umbrella, but Karen had not, so we went to the nearest grocery store (and the only one in town) to get her one.
I asked one of the employees where the umbrellas were, and she said that they didn’t carry them. I asked if there was another store where I might find one, and she replied, “Los Chinos.” I asked her where it was. She led us outside and gave us directions to the store. I asked her again what the name was, and she shrugged and said, “Los Chinos” with a slightly confused look on her face, which I took to mean that I should know the name already. I thanked her for her help and we wandered off.
Karen and I started walking in that direction and it started to rain a little harder. We took that opportunity to stop in at a bar for a few glasses of the house red, which wasn’t too bad especially since it was only 2€ per glass. After two rounds, the rain started to let up, so we settled our bill and left. We realized that we were across the street from the store that we were looking for, which was very convenient. A middle-aged Asian woman was behind the counter, her (presumed) husband was in front of the counter talking to her, and her (also presumed) daughter was standing nearby. I asked where the umbrellas were, and she told her daughter to show us. We found what we needed, paid, and left.
When we walked outside, I paused to look at the name of the store. It was called Eurotienda. For a moment, I wondered if we’d gone to the wrong store, but I thought about the directions that we’d been given and decided that, if it wasn’t the right store, it was really close. That’s when I realized what had happened.
When I asked the woman at the supermarket what the name of the store was, she shrugged and said, “Los Chinos.” That’s Spanish for “The Chinese.” She wasn’t telling me the actual name of the store, she was telling me that it was the store run by Chinese people. The shrug was probably because she didn’t know the name. To her, it was just the store run by Chinese people.
