WE WOULD RATHER BUY PARIS
Andromache and I could not find a free bench so we sat down opposite two Chinese girls in the new park on Bleecker opposite Magnolia Bakery. The young ladies were gingerly attempting to eat the caloric globs as I said, “Are you from China?”
“We are,” came the answer in pretty good English, but she added “We live in Paris.”
“I work for Heineken in accounting and my friend is going to the Sorbonne studying languages.”
“We don’t see many visitors from China,” I offered. “Oh,” answered girl number one. “We see many,” she continued.
I mentioned the article in The Times that rich Chinese women were coming to New York to buy fashions because they were cheaper here than China.
“Sure, I read that – prices are cheaper here.” said number one.
“What do you think of New York?” I asked.
“Oh, the buildings are too high. We prefer Paris.”
Just that morning WNYC reported that China is the second largest economy in the world and will surpass the US in six years and these two smiling ladies were telling me, “Don’t worry we are not going to buy Radio City the way the Japanese did. We prefer buying the Eiffel Tower.”
