The first store trip was an hour into moving day. As our house was quickly being filled by boxes and furniture I realized my tummy was rumbling. If I'm starting to feel hungry then I know Jesse is about 10 minutes from full on Hangry mode. Also we realize one of our many packing fails, toilet paper. We had a plan, Jesse was going to carry a role in his suitcase that way whenever we got into our apartment, even if our stuff wasn't here yet we wouldn't have to run straight to the store. It was a great, great plan, had we remembered lol! Thanks to the super close market, I returned home with the necessities. TP and several trays of all sorts of easy munchies: sushi, fried chicken and rice, something else that was undefined but tasty!
As children learn to read we often coach them to consider the surrounding context, take clues from pictures and other words you know and formulate a best guess as you sound out sentences. This same strategy works for grownups! Between the pictures on the bottles and google translate we came home with laundry soap. (at least we think we did!) Trying to purchase other cleaning products was not as straight forward.
I decide to head East, google maps indicating after walking 15 minutes I would find a thrift store, Daiso and a grocery store. Uber excited for the thrift store- the treasures I might discover! Daiso is always a good option (similar to family dollar but with so! much!! more!!! And often bright flashing lights! And songs!! Just a touch of overstimulation!!!) And exploring a new grocery store, will this one be my favorite? My excitement was quickly tampered when I noticed the parking lot of the thrift store was very quiet. This doesn't bode well. Pulling out my handy dandy google translate app I soon realize I'm a few days late.
But the grocery store and its blessed air conditioning is open! I grab a cart and begin imagining all the yummy things I'll encounter inside. A quick glance later, this is more a CVS store than a grocery store. I think about leaving since my original plan was groceries, but then I realize I can wander around this store, bask in its beautiful air conditioning and maybe knock a few things of our 'things to buy' list. We've been told that mold is a common occurrence in places here, the weather just seems to breed it. Bleach is first up on my list cause you know you gotta attack that at first sight! After a good 20 minutes of wandering down several cleaning aisles and many google translate pictures of bottles I've procured window cleaner and mold remover- victory! Continuing the celebration by gathering an assortment of snacks! Love tasting all the new flavors of things.
I've been hunting for white vinegar for a few days, initially for cleaning but then I've discovered Japanese cucumbers and I cannot get enough! As I'm weaving my way through the crowds of people I am keeping an eye out for what looks like vinegar. I find lots of rice vinegars, which I'm sure will make my cucumbers taste great, but I'm not so sure about it's helpfulness in cleaning lol. Finally I pick up a bottle of mostly clear liquid and begin tipping it from one side to the other. Trying to decide if it's an oil type liquid or a vinegary one. Give up and decide to just bring it home. Spoiler alert: not vinegar, but still tastey.