we get to the post office, (by taking a photo of where it is on the ipod), and the door is locked. apparently, they close at 1:30 on mondays. i swear people in this country just do whatever the hell they want. they park on the sides of the streets by pulling up on curbs and sidewalks (it's actually pretty convenient), they drive through dirt valleys to get from one road to another where there's no connector, and now they set their own hours and don't give two thoughts about people who need their services. it's a great way to live - you just do whatever you want, whenever you want, and other people deal with it.
regardless of the fact that they're closed (it's like 2pm by now), there are still some guys sitting behind counters inside. one of them points us to a side door, motioning for us to go in. we go through that door, and we're in the behind the scenes part of the post office, where there are guys filing letters and so forth. they try to tell us to leave, we try to tell them that this other guy told us to come in, and in reality, it's just one big confusing mess with mixed up bits of both languages. the guy who seems like the boss sees the stack of postcards in my hand and says to me "send? okay, you send," and brings us into the public side. he gives us the stamps to put on the postcards and tells us it's 3 euros. ben hands him his debit card and he tells us they don't take cards. this is where things get awkward, since the stamps are already on my postcards and we don't have any cash with us (i had 85 cents... i counted). all in one breath, he says, "it's okay. it's okay. leave them here. thank you, bye." we have successfully managed to open a closed post office and then proceed to not pay for what we needed. ever happened to you? didn't think so. we thank the guy about a million times, i leave the 85 cents on his desk, like that makes a difference, and we head out.
next up is the veggies. this is probably my favorite story since i've gotten here. the place looks like an indoor farmers market, minus all of the vendors. it's beyond simple: plywood counters with plastic crates filled with pretty much any fruit or veggie you could imagine, and then some. i was in heavennnn! we pick out 4 huge bell peppers, 6 gigantic - like seriously very, very very large mushrooms, a head of garlic, 4 onions, 2 tomatoes, a lime, and a bunch of scallions and take them up to the counter to pay. the guy puts each on a scale and types something into the computer to enter the weight/price stuff. he gets to the lime, looks at it, makes some kind of "ehhh" sound, and tosses it into the bag. apparently limes are free. our grand total was 1.80. 1.80! groceries would be SOOOOO cheap if i didn't live with ben! i was so proud of this shopping extravaganza that i emailed it to pretty much everyone i knew, told my mom to call and tell mima (my 91-year-old grandmother), and now am writing a blog about it. i've officially just become a house-non-wife.
have i mentioned that i love it here?
xox k
sounds wonderful, wish everywhere could be like that.
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