Mah said she enjoyed going to her local market but had to adjust her ideas about how long a simple shopping trip should take. "You must wait in long lines, vigilant for impatient customers who edge in front of you," she wrote. "Everything must be prepared for you – the tomatoes must be bagged for you, the globe artichoke plucked from a pile for you, the chicken breasts sliced into escalopes and lightly pounded for you. By the time you've visited three vendors, a whole morning has elapsed. (In fact, there are no quick transactions of any kind in France. A trip to the dry cleaner's involves watching the woman ahead of you explain each stain on each item of clothing.... When he was a student, [her husband] Calvin used to dread borrowing the vacuum cleaner from his neighbors because it always entailed an invitation for coffee and an hour of small talk.)"
