We live only a few short blocks from the local Punto Sma grocery store. I never fail to leave there without some small humiliation. The fact that I like to bring my child with me to the store to shop is already frowned upon. While the Italians love children, they really love them when they are at school or in parks. My determination to drag my three year-old everywhere including the bus, the grocery store and coffee bar has been met with a number of disapproving and shocked looks. A new friend here told me to simply look at them and yelll, " Non parlo italiano!" to make them scatter.
Today I felt bold as I had been there several times, knew my way around the store and had a LIST! I really wanted some brown sugar as I had forgot to grab it at the commissary as it would make my attempts at baking a bit softer than my current results. I grabbed a bag of sugar and asked "zucchero brun" (my best guess) and he looks at me (apparently I have fallen out of the sky) and reads the label very slowly to me "CANE SUGAR". Yeah, he said it really loud so everyone in the aisle looked. So I grabbed a more brownish looking bag and settled for that, my language attempt foiled again.
After being unable to convince Taeyana that we should by a whole octopus, frozen and shrink wrapped, we checked out. You bag your own here and it is expected that you bring your own bags. Knowing that the bag would be heavy as it was a milk/juice/soda/wine run, I was prepared with Tae's hot pink stroller. The streets have not readily lent themselves to the use of the stroller so this was only its second time out. You also bag your own groceries. So I put all the heavy stuff in the bag that will go in the stroller and the lighter things in a second bag and we are off!
I also needed to by tickets for the bus. Few buses have ticket machines so your only alternative is to buy them at the tabbachi- the tobacco store. Tabbachis sell cigarettes, candy bars, small gifts if you need a quick present, have slot machines and BUS TICKETS. I don't know how they got that gig but it is a good one. I drag my kid, my stroller and groceries in to buy 20 bus tickets from a man who seems perturbed he had to walk two feet to sell them to me.
On the way out, I realize that I have poorly packed my groceries and that my beer is at the top of the bag. Not even a full six-pack--a THREE pack. Who wants three beers? That is not even enough to get your prom date drunk!
So SNAPSHOT ROME: 8:45 am Me exiting a tobacco store with my three year old in her leopard print coat, pushing a hot pink stroller filled with a bag of beer. I think I will take it to the park.
Lol on the beer. In Germany you can buy direct from a brewery as most cities have more than one small brewery. They also sell only by the case and one of my roommates had a special rack on her bike to pick up her beer.
ReplyDeleteThe Europeans can be remarkably crabby about children. I used to see the kids run by the bus waving at everyone and the little old ladies would get the sourest expressions on their faces. You could tell all the non-Germans as they would laugh and wave back. I couldn't find brown sugar like we have here over there. I would recommend a back pack while shopping. The ones meant to be laptop carriers work really well I found, especially for buying your liter box of juice or milk. Also you can clear a path for yourself by simply spinning around and taking out the nearest bystanders.
Sermin