Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Rookie mistakes

After Marion woke up from her nap, we headed to Fust, the electronics store, and the Coop, grocery store, to get milk. We need milk because the largest container of milk sold here is one liter and we go through that in a couple of days.

I miss gallons of milk.

During the course of getting ready I made a few decisions.

1. I decided not to take the stroller. Marion needs to get used to walking so I decided to use this as an opportunity to force her to walk.
2. I left the umbrella at home. It's been raining all day long but wasn't raining when we left. I figured we wouldn't be gone long, we'd be OK.
3. I also left my grocery cart at home. We weren't going to get much so I decided to take a bag instead.

Rookie mistakes.

Marion quit walking about a third of the way up the hill next to our home. So I carried her to the top of the hill where she walked a bit more before giving up again, forcing me to carry her to Fust. While at Fust I picked up the cellphone charger I needed and then decided to get a hair dryer instead.

Because, you know, I needed one. And I only needed milk at the grocery store.

I picked the cheapest hair dryer they had. Meaning I picked the 10 CHF one while the others ranged from 50-80 CHF. That resulted in the following exchange at the check out counter:

Store employee: "This is for travel, yes?"
Me: "No, it's for here."
S.E.: "Oh, because this is meant for travel. It is small."
Me: "That's OK, I don't use it alot."
S.E.: "Uh, oh."

My hair today must not have given me away. But I probably will pay for getting the cheap one by buying another one in the future.

After that awkward exchange, Marion and I headed to the Coop. I walked, she was carried.

Sidenote: How the hell do you pronounce Coop? I've heard it pronounced as Co-op, Cope, and Coop (as in chicken coop). Everyone seems to pronounce it differently.

Anyway, we went to Coop to get milk. We came out with milk, cherries, apples, grapes, swiffer stuff, sponges, peanuts, cough drops, and strawberry pastries.

Someone clearly forgot we did not bring the granny cart.

Granny grocery cart, at home, in the kitchen.

We checked out and left Coop. And what was outside waiting for us? Rain. Damn.

So I picked up my bag, stuffed to the gills with groceries, and the diaper bag, also stuffed with items we didn't really need now, and started to head back with Marion.

Marion loved the first half of the walk. She enjoyed stopping to look for and jump in puddles. So while I didn't have to carry her, the walk took awhile and I was getting very wet. Meanwhile, Swiss people continued to walk briskly past us with their umbrellas.

Marion stopped halfway home and gave up on walking. So I picked her up and booked it to our apartment. I was soaking wet by the time we got there. Marion was laughing, saying "Mommy necklace wet!"

Funny girl.

Once home, I unloaded our groceries. And then I thought of one reason why items are smaller here than in the States: the refrigerator is smaller.


No way I could fit a gallon of milk in there.

And now the sun is out. Go figure.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

aw! sounds like a good second day!

Anonymous said...

A little tip - if you use a lot of milk (like at least 1-2 containers a week) pick up a 6-pack of UHT milk. You can keep it in the cabinet (unopened of course)! I am particular to the Coop Bio Drink (sold next to the coffee creamer usually) but I have also heard good things about the M-Budget UHT at Migros, which comes in HUGE size. (I just don't drink that much milk to justify a huge size like that). --stacy