When Left Alone

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Did you ever envision grocery shopping to be an overwhelming task? Well, when you’re a new arrival in a foreign country it could turn out to be more then overwhelming.

During my first grocery shopping experience I spent over 2 hours at the supermarket located 2 blocks from my new apartment in Santiago, Chile. I knew what I wanted to buy and stepped into Santa Isabel supermarket ready to choose my items. To my surprise, this wasn’t as simple as I had expected. See the thing is Santa Isabel is the standard Chilean supermarket. What does this mean? Well, it means that the supermarket mainly offers Chilean products. Which in theory is not a problem. However, when you’re a foreigner it becomes a bit of a mission.

For starters, I spent a big chunk of time looking for milk. I kept searching the refrigerators without having a clue that milk doesn’t get refrigerated in Chile. Yes, you read right. Milk does not get refrigerated in Chile. Neither do eggs. Are you wondering, why wouldn’t I just ask where something was? That would be ideal wouldn’t it? Especially when you know the language. A language I am pretty fluent with.

Well, correction. A language I thought I was fluent with until a Chilean co-worker bashed my Spanish. See, Chileans like to cut off words. For example:

- “Como estas” = “how are you”, becomes “Como Etai”
- “Que tienes” = “what do you have”, becomes “Que teni”

Then you add new words such as:

- "sipo" = "yes"
- “curado” which in a lot of Spanish speaking countries means “cured” in Chile means “drunk”. By the way, that specific word is pronounced “Urao” no way near how it's spelled.

Too boot, not only had I been traumatized into not speaking Spanish but I was also discouraged to ask questions at the supermarket. As I searched for rice I noticed that Chile not only has an array of brands like any other country does, but it has different grades. Grade 1, Grade 2, etc. Talk about being stumped. I ventured off to ask a lady that worked there if it was possible for her to suggest a brand of rice for me since I was unsure of what to select. Instead of providing me with some insight she started reprimanding me. Yes, you are reading correctly. I got reprimanded in the supermarket for requesting rice suggestions. In a high pitched very upset tone she told me “El arroz es preferiencia de cada persona. Yo no voy a decirte que escojer para que despues digas que no te gusto”. :-O Translation: “Rice is a preferred taste for everyone. I’m not going to choose for you and have you say you didn’t like it”. :,( As you could imagine, I was in complete awe. I had no choice but to walk away like a pup with my tail in between my legs. I grabbed the first rice I saw and kept about my business.

As I continued my shopping I get a call from one of my new roommates Colleen wondering where I was. I didn’t realize I had been in the supermarket 2 blocks from my home for over an hour. She and another roommate, Avalon were at a friends house when our roommate JP called them concerned about my status. JP had seen me leave and got worried when he noticed I had yet to return. He didn’t have my number as of yet to contact me so he reached out to them. I verified that I was ok and continued my shopping. Off to the cheese and meats section I went.

As I’m standing there not recognizing a single brand or kind of cheese I wondered how I was going to figure it all out. I stood there watching others ordered and here I was clueless. As I continued eyeballing the section I noticed Philadelphia Cream Cheese behind the counter. I was unclear how much it cost since I still had not figured out the conversion rate but asked for it immediately. Honestly, I don’t even eat cream cheese enough to buy my own but I asked for it simply because it was something I was familiar with :/. I then proceeded to ask the person behind the counter if she had anything like “Cheddar or American Cheese”. I knew she didn’t understand what I was saying since she didn’t understand it in English or standard Spanish. Since I was confused, she started giving me samples of cheeses until I finally selected one. The same happened when I went for cold cuts. By the time I was done being stuffed by the deli staff, I proceeded with my attempt to check out.

When I made it to the register the cashier sends me back. Turns out that I had forgotten a step when grabbing my fruits, vegetables and fresh bread. Here in Chile there is a middle person for that. Once you select these items you have to get them weighed to get a scanned ticket, which you must take with you to the register. Then and only then can you proceed with completing your purchase. Once I completed this process I headed back to the register.

Suddenly it hits me. In all my years of grocery shopping back home I always had a car and an amazing friend or my mom doing it with me. I simply grabbed whatever I wanted, stuffed it in the trunk and took it home. Now here I was alone in a foreign country with a cart full of groceries. What was I thinking? How in the world did I intend to carry all that on my own? Even though the apartment is only two blocks away it was way too much for me to carry. So little by little I started removing things from my cart trying to keep the most important items. When I was done I finally went to the register. You would think my experience there would be done. Well, nope.

Suddenly, I’m being asked a series of questions, none that I could understand which simply annoyed the cashier :/. A few weeks later I learned that I was being asked:

- ¿Le gustaria donar lo centavos a Hogar de Cristo?
Would you like to donate $.02 to Hogar de Cristo?
It’s common to be asked if you’d like to donate your pennies to the organization

- Con quota o sin quota?
Layway plan?
When paying with a card you have the option of paying in installments and choosing how many installments you prefer.

- ¿Colecta puntos?
Do you collect points?
Similar to the USA you collect points to get discounts on future purchases

- Rut?
Country ID number?
Which you could only gain if you have a country visa.

When I handed my debit card they had an issue processing it because it’s foreign. Management had to be called in and with my luck both the cashier and manager were new at the experience. Once they figured out everything I was finally able to head home. Half way down the first block I realize I couldn’t carry everything :,( It was too heavy even though I removed lots of items. Until today, my roommates cannot stop laughing. I had to call Colleen to contact JP, since I didn’t have his number, so that he could meet me half way to help me with the bags :/ Thank goodness for great roomies.

Lesson Learned:

Never let a new roommate in a foreign country do their first grocery shopping alone or at least provide some insight on what to expect. Also, if there is an international supermarket, the new roommate should be notified during the first week. A week or two after my first grocery shopping experience I discovered there was a supermarket that offers international products a few blocks away from my new home.

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