El Supermercado

They were playing J. Lo’s greatest hits CD in the grocery store today. I love this country. I also love going grocery shopping here because everything is so cheap and I feel like a true “resident” doing errands that real Spanish people to instead of just wearing Uggs, going into souvenir shops and getting tall chai lattes from Starbucks, which, unfortunately, I do more frequently. I bought green apples, butter for my chocolate chip cookies today, and a loaf of bread for the family. The supermarket also has a large meat department, in which giant pig legs are hanging from the ceiling, and a fish display with fish heads organized in an ornate design. The milk is all ultra-high-pasturized, which means it is not refrigerated, there are more kinds of marmalade than there are fruits, and there is cream cheese, although no one here has even seen or heard of a bagel (except in a few select Starbucks).

Anyway, my host mom gave me money for the bread, but I gave it back to her and said “it’s on me.” They acted like I had just taken the bill at Ruth's Chris Steak House (a loaf of sandwich bread costs $0.60). I was just like “Instead of me taking the money, let me make an extra sandwich sometime.” They laughed and said “thank you” but in all seriousness, the $0.60 was definitely worth the liberty of making myself a sandwich at the time of my choice.