The Grand Tour Monday, September 11, 2006

Well, today I got the grand tour of the campus and city. We first walked the campus and then we walked the city. The city tour was very beneficial because it gave me some other options for shopping. I was able to find some bigger stores and was informed of the open food market on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I do not know if I will be eating a lot of meat over here, because I am scarred that by the time I walk home it will not be any good. I also found many restaurants and a “mall”, it is different but it works.


one of the many entrances into Town Centre

I was able to find some good deals on kitchen knives and scissors. In all the other stores, I was finding that a pair of scissors cost about $7. There is just no way I would pay that, but today I found 3 pair for $2 in the clearance bin, and they work! I also found a good deal on bottled water, but I can only buy a few bottles at a time because the store is about a 35 min walk from my house. Two things I found that were astronomically priced were 1) a plastic 3 drawer container, $40. I was shocked! They only cost $10 or $12 in the States. I decided not to buy it and instead found a 5 shelf metal thing I can build for the same price. I did not buy it yet, because my friends and I are going to IKEA on Saturday. 2) Before I left I really wanted this one perfume, but I did not buy it because I thought that it would probably be the same price here. Boy was I wrong. In the States it cost about $40-$50 but here it is $60-$100. Oh well, I will just wait until Christmas. Subway was about the only thing that was consistent with the U.S.; although, they do not have yellow mustard or oil and vinegar. Weird!

My best find today was not a single item, but a whole store…T.K. Maxx, it is like TJMaxx, but just with a K. Here I found a watch, and an alarm clock; hooray! My watch was still $26 but it was the cheapest one I could find. I also bought a blow dryer and straightening iron this afternoon. They were somewhat reasonably priced. Shopping pretty much sucks because even a “deal” looks bad in American dollars. L

Tonight my church friends (Sarah, Josh, and Olaf) came over and we went and got some pizza. The food was good, different from oatmeal, and we just sat around talking about various topics. I learned that Josh goes to school and is a volunteer bobby (policeman). He has the same authority as a paid officer, he just works for free??? Olaf is a software programmer and Sarah works at McDonalds and is preparing to go on a mission.


Josh the bobby crazy police cars

Sometimes I find myself slipping into the British accent and I have definitely changed certain vocabulary choices. I hope I just don’t sound too stupid.

FYI: So a few days ago I complained about paying to use the cart at the grocery; well today I found out that when you return your cart you get your money back…hahaha