Friday, July 13, 2007

A Supermarket Scene

Entering the supermarket yesterday morning, I immediately heard different voice cadences; not the Deutsch dialect but something more different. Then I though, uh-oh, it is vacation time in Europe. I went on to discreetly watch. Right in front of me in the produce section, were a big family from Holland. (Near our place is a great camping area, in front of the sea and in the woods.)

I wanted to confirm if they would act like me: I love going systematically through all the counters and sections when I am grocery shopping in a new and different place. I want to find what we needed, but most importantly, I dont want to miss exprimenting on my palate -- what is is that they have that we dont have at home, hmmm!

They touched and smelled and briefly examined all the items that they were passing through. I could have rubbed my hands gleefully as they were acting like me! And then I encountered them in the refrigerated section; they were right beside and seem to be discussing excitedly about what to buy for breakfast. But the focus was on a small soft package held gently between the thumb and pointer fingers of the mom. I cannot really see it and it would be too obvious if I nicked my head to get a better look; but my problem was solved. The mom decided they needed help and I was the one closer to her.

The exchange happened auf Deutsch which I would of course translate to English:

Other Mom: 'Excuse me, do you know what this is?'
Me: 'That is a fresh yeast, used for baking.'
Other Mom: 'For baking?'
Me: 'Can you speak English?'
Other Mom: 'Yes.'
Me: (Now in English) 'Ok, you use fresh yeast to help the dough to rise.'
Other Mom: Laughing really hard 'Oh, we wanted to eat it for breakfast!'

I laughed with them, too, they made my day. Lesson learned: Asking is not bad, otherwise you would end up with yeast for breakfast!

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