Shopping

One aspect of life that has been different here is how we do our shopping. In the States, I would go grocery shopping one time a week and would go to one store each time. Here, we go to the market almost daily and make multiple stops in the market to get what we need. Everything is so limited here, that there are not a lot of options compared to what we are used to, but we are starting to adapt to what is available. Here is a picture from the food side of the market:

Each vendor has their own table. Most people sell about the same things. It's really interesting because people sitting right next to each other might have the exact same things to sell. However, each vendor typically has their usual costumers who primarily go to their "shop". I am starting to get into a rhythm of buying onions from one vendor and tomatoes from another. It has been a great way to practice Moru and get to know a lot of people in one place.

One thing that has been difficult about shopping here is simply identifying what is in the market. There are some fruits and veggies that we are familiar with from home, but it took me a while to realize what they looked like here. For example, the below picture is (from left to right). An orange, a tangerine and the one that looks like a lemon is a lime :). Other than bananas and papaya, these are some of the only fruits that we can find in the market (at least this time of year).

The picture below looks like mini watermelons, but they are actually cucumbers.

We are beginning to be able to identify each item in the market and are both starting to learn the names of each in Moru and in Arabic. I was really proud of myself yesterday when I bought onions from a vendor and it is completely in Moru! Wahoo! Baby steps, but it was very exciting and we are learning to rejoice in our small accomplishments. 

Another HUGE victory happened yesterday when I found a watermelon in the market!! At first, I thought it was a huge cucumber (because of the way cucumbers look as pictured above), but fortunately the women who was selling it spoke English and told me in clear English that it was a watermelon... I may have done a happy dance in the middle of the market :). It is the only one I have seen and there was only one of them. It was very juicy and delicious. A huge score in the market! Because the fruit options are so very limited here, we get excited about any new fruit that appears. We have learned to buy as many of it as you can because you might not see it again for a long time.