Paiz is the grocery store where I feel most comfortable. I like their meat, there are items I recognize, and it is well spaced and not crowded. I am happy when I shop there. It is far away and inconvienant, but a treat none the less.

Todd took me there this past Monday. I had not been in 2 weeks and was unsure when we’d be going again. This week and next I am having people for dinner…..so, what do you think I did? That’s right!! I shopped my heart out. I did not buy things I did not need, I did not buy a lot of american food, but I did buy quite a lot of ground meat. I can freeze it and it was on sale! I bought chicken, I bought pasta, I bought spagetti sauce, you get the idea.

Well, when I got up to the check out stand it quickly became obvious that we were buying more than most people. The check out person and the bagger were snickering, the people behind us were annoyed.

As we were leaving the store both Todd and I were agitated. On the drive home we discussed how we were embarrassed at how much we bought. The weird thing is, it wasn’t an excessive amount for a store in the states. It was to feed more than just our family, and it wasn’t out of range for our budget. But we are learning that when you live in a place where many people are poor and hungry even a trip to the grocery store can be uncomfortable.

We eat simplier here, we eat out a lot less, we now eat left overs, our kids complain less about what we are having for dinner. God is teaching us so much, but as was obvious, we still have more to learn. I am not sure what God wanted us to learn on Monday but what I did learn was that we need to go to the store more often so as not to embarrass ourselves!

(Maureen)