the big adventure can begin. new country, new people, new language, new city, new news. obvious, no? however the big adventure lies in the small things. because there are so many small things you have to learn. all these small things that were obvious or even routine in your home country. like which bus to take, how and what to order in a restaurant, how to walk through a crowd, to cross a busy road, to greet people you don´t know.
so now i feel like a child again, having to learn all these small things, one step at a time.
learning is fun ofcourse. just remember what it was like when you learned to ride a bike. whoa - the feeling of mastering that machine! the speed! the danger that came with it.
and then you fall.
so learning can be tiring and difficult as well. another thing learned.
today i am learning: the supermarket. ah - here are the vegetables. no matter that i have no clue what all these strange looking fruits and leafs are. there is the bread. let me take these festive looking rolls. now all i need is chocolate paste to give myself a real treat.here is the jam, next to the bread. there is the honey. so... the chocolate paste can´t be far away... no, not here. here are the diet products. and then pickles.
i decide to look in the least obvious place: detergents. no - not there. well that would have been silly. though i also fail to see why the tea deserves to be next to the detergents - and not next to the coffee where it should be - or where i feel it should be.
let´s look somewhere else. i fight my way through the busy place. hm - dried meat. more dried meat. here is the cheese. but no chocolate spread to put on these delicious looking rolls.
i ask the kind looking girl with the ridiculous shop uniform.
'excuse me. i is look for chocolate for bread. nutella?' and then i make the universally known gesture for spreading somehting on you bread - one hand being the bread, the other the knife spreading the much sought after product.
she looks at me vacantly. so i repeat.
'chocolate. bread.' and the gesture that clarifies it all.
the lights seem to go on in the girls head. somewhere there is activity in her pea sized brain. yes, now she walks away and signals for me to follow.
ok - chocolate milk powder. not bad. but not what i want.
she smiles triumphantly and deserts me.
oh come on people - there must be chocolate paste in this place! damn! it should be next to the jam. it wants to be there. i am sure. but it is not there - even if i check again.
and how i wish that child would STOP screaming. and why do people leave there carts in the middle of the pathways? and why is that couple standing in front of the cereals -forever!- where i now know i will find that fucking chocolate paste. not. and will you guys please clean up that broken beer bottle! and please don´t push me in the queue. and could you use deodorant - damn you smell. and why are you not wearing a t-shirt? and why are all the american films on tv dubbed? and why does the cheese not taste like cheese?
what is the cashier lady saying to me? and why is she saying it to me again- loudly? can she not understand that i do not understand? no - i do not have any change. and even if i did you would not get it.
get out of my way stupid old fool! don't stand in the door! hey - i know it is a car park but i am walking here. just because you have the right off way does not mean you have the right to kill me.
it is too hot. there are too many people. too much noise. and: i have no chocolate paste.
so today i have learned about the supermarket.
i have learned that there is a different logic here. (different - not worse, and not better. must keep on telling myself this) i do not understand it yet, but one step at a time i will learn it.
perhaps today i tried to take one step too much: to find chocolate paste.
maybe better luck tomorrow.
learning how to cycle takes a few attempts as well. today i fell of the bike.
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