Now, back at Tesco in the grocery section. First I am going to need a cart. It's important to watch and see what everyone else is doing so as to embarrass yourself a little less. It looks like you have to unlock the carts by inserting money. Got it. I'm collecting packaged items and doing my best to decipher what might be inside, but it is nerve-wracking because Tesco is like shopping in the middle of Times Square. It is a mob scene at every hour of the day.
Now it is time to collect my produce. At least I know that I have to weigh it and get the price sticker. I'm nervous, but I think I can do it. I'm watching everyone in the produce section and no one seems to be weighing anything. In fact I don't even see a scale. Crap. I CANNOT screw up again-it's really beginning to effect my self-esteem. Maybe I should just put all of the produce back and purchase 3 months of frozen pizza. No, I can do this, but I'm going to have to ask the man for help. I ask if he speaks English-"a little". It turns out at this store you don't have to get the price sticker from the produce scale. They take care of it at the checkout, just like the USA! I make it through the checkout (without incident) and pack up my groceries-one backpack full and two grocery bags. When I return my cart I get my deposit back! This trip has gone swimmingly, and it only took me just under 4 hrs.! Now I just have to get these groceries home on the metro...
I am beginning to realize that my ideas about getting a job may have been nuts. There is no way to have a job here without speaking the language, unless I want to be a mime. And as it turns out, I don't have time for a job because most errands (groceries, laundry, etc.) are taking nearly 4 hrs. I try to commit to one errand per day. Any more than that would probably give me a nervous breakdown.
I hope this all doesn't sound too negative because we really are having a great time. Things are getting easier each day-it can be frustrating when you have to do everything wrong the first time in order to figure out how to do it right, but we're getting there. It's also been great to be with a group of Americans who are embarrassing themselves right along with you. It makes me sad to be fulfilling every horrible American tourist stereotype out there, but it's a learning curve.
Rebecca! It's so good to hear your voice, or sort of... Great to hear about the Tesco, I visited the basement grocery several times but was too intimidated to go on the other floors. I think I ended up on the 3rd floor once by accident?
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned something about laundry - I know that Maura once had to devote an entire day to washing her clothes, one mishap after another, didn't finish until 9 o'clock or something and spent the rest of the night drinking beer in disgust.
Keep up the good work! xo elaine