Adventures in grocery shopping
Well, I'm bored tonight and sick of only tennis and cooking shows on TV so I thought I'd keep writing...
Tonight I was in the grocery store just dawdling through the produce when a woman who was clearly on a mission came running over to me. She kept saying something really fast over and over. "Friend," "green," and "house" were my only key words and I kept telling her, "I'm sorry, I don't understand," which is unfortunately still a phrase that I use all too often. Still, the woman was insistent and started to throw in some actions. The gestures started with the ground, the sun in the sky, it's hot out (?), and then her plucking something from the grocery store floor. It was getting exciting and I too was determined to figure out the puzzle but I was still stumped about what all of this had to do with me and I gave her the head-tilt and confused facial expression which I sometimes substitute for the "I don't understand" phrase. She gave up on the cherades and started pulling on my t-shirt so I followed her through the check-out line, I helped her bag her groceries, and I let her lead me out into the rain and over to her bike. She then opened the bag in her bike basket and handed me literally 15 cucumbers (well, they're not exactly cucumbers but they're probably the closest American equivalent). She must have been exhausted from our last 10 minutes together because she immediately disappeared. "Let me give you money!" I called out into the dark but she was gone. I can't eat a third of these before they go bad so I'll go do what every other neighbor does whenever they have fruits, vegetables, and treats that they don't want, they hang them in plastic bags on each other's door handles. I definitely appreciate the nice gift but I'm not sure why that lady wanted the big random foreigner from the produce area to have those cucumbers so badly (the cucumbers that perhaps came from the garden of her friend who lives in the green house??)
Tonight I was in the grocery store just dawdling through the produce when a woman who was clearly on a mission came running over to me. She kept saying something really fast over and over. "Friend," "green," and "house" were my only key words and I kept telling her, "I'm sorry, I don't understand," which is unfortunately still a phrase that I use all too often. Still, the woman was insistent and started to throw in some actions. The gestures started with the ground, the sun in the sky, it's hot out (?), and then her plucking something from the grocery store floor. It was getting exciting and I too was determined to figure out the puzzle but I was still stumped about what all of this had to do with me and I gave her the head-tilt and confused facial expression which I sometimes substitute for the "I don't understand" phrase. She gave up on the cherades and started pulling on my t-shirt so I followed her through the check-out line, I helped her bag her groceries, and I let her lead me out into the rain and over to her bike. She then opened the bag in her bike basket and handed me literally 15 cucumbers (well, they're not exactly cucumbers but they're probably the closest American equivalent). She must have been exhausted from our last 10 minutes together because she immediately disappeared. "Let me give you money!" I called out into the dark but she was gone. I can't eat a third of these before they go bad so I'll go do what every other neighbor does whenever they have fruits, vegetables, and treats that they don't want, they hang them in plastic bags on each other's door handles. I definitely appreciate the nice gift but I'm not sure why that lady wanted the big random foreigner from the produce area to have those cucumbers so badly (the cucumbers that perhaps came from the garden of her friend who lives in the green house??)
posted by Alexa at 5:48 AM
1 Comments:
Hilarious, as usual.
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