Grocery Store Growth

Starting to come to terms with losing my phone. Have already bought a new one and hopefully will survive with this awesome non-smart phone (circa 1994) until it arrives. Luckily, through the help of some tech-savvy friends, I discovered that my calendar info was saved on my gmail. But my Notes with my baby names? No such luck. And yes, you better believe I restarted the list yesterday. I'm thinking the ones I still remember must be the ones I like the most, yes?

Anyhow, today I went to the grocery store down the road... which -I kid you not-- is one of my least favorite places here. It's so ghetto, but it's the only store within walking distance. It's this discount type place that claims that they "pass the savings on to you" by keeping all of their merchandise in boxes and having no customer service. Generally, there is ONE cashier (despite the fact they have four checkout lanes). Of course, there is nothing so advanced as an express lane (i.e. ten items or less) in these parts. If the line for the ONE checkout gets to be about 10-15 people, the ONE cashier will then press the buzzer to attempt to secure extra help. Usually it takes about 3-4 rings of the bell. #thirdworldproblems

After a particularly trying weekend, I was trying my best to be patient (which has generally never been my strong suit). I had THREE items and was waiting in line behind people with carts filled to the brim with groceries. The gentleman in front of me only had TWO items and insisted that I go ahead of him. When I told him that he had fewer items and should maintain his spot in the crazy line, he insisted (in Spanish) on "ladies first."

The gentleman who was now behind me had rat poison. The ladies in front of me started asking him about it. He said he "waging a war" against baby rats in his home. I told him I was dealing with something similar: baby cockroaches. The couple behind him chimed in and told me that Boric Acid (capitalized or no?) and Laurel (sp?) leaves were the best for getting rid of "las cucarachas." As we all made small talk about the various rodents and insects in our homes that we were trying to eliminate and joked about how this store is always so slow, it occurred to me how lovely some Ticos can be. They had me belly laughing in a horrible line when I was pissy after a horrible weekend and just wanting to get "home." So thank you, Mr. Baby Rat Man and Mrs. Boric Acid. You have given me a tad of hope about this new place I'm calling home at a time when I needed it most.

XO,

t