Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Page 141

In my country too = same thing is happening in your country as it was described by the one you quoted.
was really surprised that every mall store has a Star Wars related merchandise = star wars is basically everywhere, and you are surprised,
and surprised too that a lot of people enjoyed it = ALSO (in addition, etc.) you did not expect that it would be as well-recieved as it is. Now it most probably refers to the merchandise, aka the toys, but I suppose it could refer to the fact that SW is everywhere.

Now the hard part.

esp the kids = 1. Not sure if the sentence itself could be misinterpreted that you were surprised EVEN MORE that the kids were the ones who liked it, in which case it would be translated to "I was surprised that so many people liked it [what it refers to does not matter now], and I was especially surprised that it was liked by the kids"

2. It could possibly mean the same as the previous example, with the addition of "especially" referring to the fact that it was mostly liked by the kids, but would still suggest you are surprised because it was liked by the kids. But I guess especially would have to have two meanings in this case, not sure if it can be used like that.

3. However, the way I interpreted (or comprehended) it, is that you were surprised that it [once again, does not matter what it means] was well-received, and you just simply added the extra info that it was mainly a kids' favorite.

I am fucking lost already btw, so in case you guys forgot that exact part of the sentence I was talking to so far: "and [I was] surprised too that a lot of people enjoyed it esp the kids."

My response was, as I just said, to the third interpretation of your sentence, as I found it a bit funny that you felt the need of adding that the merchandise (which is mainly kid stuff to begin with) was very liked by kids too. It's just... funny?

Now, I'm unsure whether your sentence could mean all the three possible things I just wrote down, but in my language, you don't need to make big alterations to the oriignal sentence to fit each of the points. The literal translations would be like:
1. And [I was] surprised too that a lot of people enjoyed it, and especially that it was [enjoyed by] the kids as well.
2. And [I was] surprised too that a lot of people enjoyed it, and especially that it was mainly [enjoyed by the kids.
]

Number 3. would sound the same as it was written originally, and while number 1. and 2. might be grammatically correct, I was rather convibced by no. 3, as it just sounded the most straight-forward to me.

To be honest - though it was a long time ago I was last taught English -, that sentence sounds simple as fuck. On the other hand, when Kreia in Kotor 2 droped this gem on me: "but to know the future, one most know yourself" .... HOW is that not themselves instead of yourself??! These are the sentences whcih make me want to jump out of the window, but these are also the sentences whcih makes me love English so much.