Days of December 17 {Errands}

{in transit, and looking crazy for photographing it}

I almost can't believe I'm posting pictures of these, my bags of groceries. It was a day full of many good things... picture taking not being one of them. 

But maybe this is my opportunity to share with you what doing errands around here looks like for me, an expat, in a country without a car. I don't want a car by the way. Except some days, like today, I definitely do.

To make this as short as possible, I'll just list for you in order, what going out for a few errands looked like on this particular day.

1. Think through the five places that I need to go, eliminate three of them.
2. Think through which place to go first that will have the lightest load to carry, so I can transfer it in a taxi to the next store.
3. Stop to buy vegetables for dinner on way out of apartment gate.
4. Get a phone call from Chinese friend who is starting an imported food business and find out that he wants to meet you in town instead of delivering the food you ordered to your home. Ask taxi driver to stop at location halfway to where you are going. Wait for friend. Another phone call. Drive to different location. Wait some more. See friend and pay him for food, get back in taxi.
5. Find two stools for a reasonable price that are part of a Christmas present for the boys. Think through how I will cart these around my next destination, the grocery store.
6. Haul vegetables, imported food goods, light bulbs and now new stools into grocery store.
7. Fit items awkwardly into cart about 1/4 the size of one you might find at a WalMart in the States and saunter sheepishly through packed out bread aisle.
8. Call husband on the way home and ask him to meet me outside our building to help with the hauling. Boy, he sure looks good after that shave today.
9. Ask for another few hours to do the same thing all over again tomorrow morning, with those three remaining places that were crossed off earlier.

{stools riding in style}

{imported cocoa and olive oil}