Adventures in Grocery Shopping

Does anyone out there really enjoy grocery shopping? Personally, the only time I enjoyed it was when I was 16 and had just got my license. Before Samara was born Ben and I would wait until the fridge had nothing in it but a bottle of ketchup and week-old leftovers before we would go grocery shopping. When Samara was a baby, I was pretty proud that I kept up on groceries myself with an infant in tow. Then our grocery-shopping day coincided with a friend’s and we’d often run into each other. Marcie had a baby too AND four older kids. I secretly followed them around the store once waiting for any signs of misbehavior or rebellion. I didn’t see any and realized that she was super-human and that I couldn’t yet add grocery provisioner to my resume.

Click $%^#* to read what I thought about grocery shopping when we first moved to Singapore. Thankfully, the days of climbing stairs and clerks laughing at me because I’d ask for something so absurd as flour are long gone. It got a hundred times better since moving to our condo as there is a grocery store across street at the mall. Samara and I have a good little routine down—she rides over in the backpack, we stop at the one ATM that takes our card to get money since the store doesn’t take our card, she then gets to ride in the cart (which she really enjoys), people rub Samara’s cheeks, she tells them she doesn’t like it and to stop, they don’t understand and think it’s cute she’s talking to them, try to rub them again/talk to her, we try to maneuver past them but the aisles are only wide enough for one cart, we run over a few old ladies’ toes, and finally buy our groceries. We then load the trolley and the backpack up with the groceries, take the shopping cart back to the other side of the store to get our dollar back, disinfect her cheeks and hands, and then she happily walks home along side me eating her newly acquired animal crackers.

Sorry, this post is getting way too long so here’s a picture to keep your attention until the end. Details follow. I think you'll need to click on it to read everything.

This week we added a little excitement to our grocery shopping. First off, Monday (Ben took the day off) we went to Malaysia to buy groceries on someone’s recommendation that they were way cheaper there. The trip isn’t so absurd because we are closer to Johor Barhru (the border city) than we are to our own downtown plus we’d never been there. Let’s just say, maybe with a car this would be worthwhile but for us it was a learning experience. We will NOT be going there again for grocery shopping but will be returning for clothes and DVDs, which are much cheaper—12 DVDs for $25 SGD! It was a (seemingly) legitimate store and big mall. We figure if it were illegal the store wouldn’t be open. ;) It was odd how foreign it felt there and fun to ride in cheap non-metered taxis. That’s how it was in Russia and that’s the way we like it. Oh yes, the ATMs there take our card and we bought gum!

Tuesday, the trip to our store was going normally, until I, not thinking, put the soap next to Samara in the shopping cart. She loves taking the pump in and out of the soap and next thing I knew she was covered in soap. I remained calm and thankfully so did she (she normally HATES having anything sticky or dirty on her, i.e, wants to clean the playground equipment with a wipe if it is wet or dirty before playing on it. She takes after Ben!) We went through the check out line and the checker told me my soap was broken and had gotten on her hands. Apparently, she’s a kindred spirit to Ben and Samara because she left for five minutes to go wash her hands. We started home and passed an escalator. A thought popped in my mind “take that escalator”. I didn’t because it’s a longer route out of the mall. Then we passed the bread store and while I stopped to rearrange the bags, Samara decided it was time for a donut and proceeded to open the strategically placed “at her level” donut bins. I realized this when a man commented, “Your daughter is so clever. She knows how to get the donuts out herself.” I bought the one she’d licked and left the others, figuring her hands were recently disinfected. We then got to the other escalators, which were closed for repair. Then I knew why I’d had that “thought”. We eventually made it home and I had to take a picture.

I’m pretty sure I’m getting closer to adding grocery store provisioner to my resume.