Shopping

I asked Vas if he wanted to go shopping this morning. 

“That’s the highlight of my week” he said. 

He may be being a little sarcastic, but he is on to something here. 

When I lived in Jaffray, shopping could be a pain, but it did mean getting out of Jaffray… which was always a good thing.  We had the school, a post office, pub and a whole pile of churches, but if you wanted anything beyond milk and bread, you needed to make the drive to ‘town’.  I needed a real reason to leave the house or it wasn’t going to happen.. and shopping provided that escape.

Michael still thinks I love the ‘bright lights’ of the ‘city.’  Bright lights can be a relative term.. I just didn’t particularly love the solitude of life in suburbia outside of suburbia and in relation to the non-existent lights of Jaffray, either Cranbrook or Fernie did look pretty good!  It was something we could have done together, but he always figured I could handle it: and I could.

It made me feel a part of something bigger.. something outside children and dishes. 

When the boys were older I moved to Hartley Bay for a school year and while there wasn’t any place to pick up some milk and bread there were a few ‘bright lights.’ The nurses, a couple of other teachers and the psychologist/basketball coach Jon Lee made life a social affair, and I like that.  Besides, we had the magic of the sea, the adventure of the big boats and exposure to the traditions of the Indigenous people.  It was pretty great.    

And grocery shopping meant going on an adventure: a float plane or ferry ride through the wiles of miles of 'empty' coastline to the nearest town of Prince Rupert.  Shopping was a journey back to civilization, maybe a drink in a pub or coffee shop.  It meant we could again step upon solid earth, rather than the boardwalks we spent our days and nights on in the community.

And grocery shopping allowed us to box up a bit of the experience and take it back to HB in the form of fresh vegetables and frozen pizza.  We could open a can of Campbell's Soup or some KFC weeks later, and remind ourselves that the world was larger than this lonely little village in the midst of the Canadian Woods and it would be there at the end of the year when my contract was finished.  I needed to enjoy every moment of the space I was in Now.  It wasn't going to happen twice.  

A few years later I was in LaCrete and things were a little brighter. Northern Alberta, not far from the NWT border, LaCrete is a lovely, quiet little farming community located under the huge skies of the flat prairie.  It isn’t a lot different than living on the ocean: you can see for miles. 

Summer days last forever but when winter does arrive, it's dark. 

As the long days of summer start to get shorter, migration season hits the Peave River Valley.  LaCrete is on the migratory path of a huge number of bird species making their way south for the winter and then back north again for the long summer days.  They came in all shapes, colours and sizes, and the sky would darken at times with their numbers.  Autumn is not only colorful, it is also magical. 

And then there were the northern lights,  most spectacular on the coldest of nights.. absolutely brilliant as they literally danced and rolled about the sky.  I never imagined the awe they created in my being: I think the closest I have ever been to God was sitting on the hood of my car wrapped in my pyjamas and a blanket at 2 in the morning watching them reveal themselves. 

But it was still a very small town, with limited things to do and see and often the highlight of our week, or at least every two or three weeks, was heading into High Level for groceries.  Walking the isles of SuperStore always made me feel somehow connected…  to places where they grew bananas and strawberries.  To worlds where it wasn’t always dark and so far away from… anywhere. 

Grocery shopping in Tucson with a friend I worked with in Mexico, made me so jealous.  It was as though she live at home, and yet still be in Mexico.. with the sun and corn flour and ‘real’ Mexican ingredients. 

When I first moved to Oman, I had an apartment on the side of the road in the middle of the Arabian desert.  Not a lot of ‘bright lights’ around there either and not a lot of shopping in Musan'ah.  But then, we discovered Al Sawadi.. and Carfour about an hour from home.  The resort filled our need to be social and outside, but Carfour offered us what was familiar.  Carfour fed my tummy and my soul.  It was.. so.. normal is a chaotic, rather strange world!  We could buy fresh fruit and veggies, pick up an English book or even a movie. 


And in Muscat, they also had Lulu's.. which didn't sound all that 'normal' to my Canadian ears, but was attached to a Dairy Queen and KFC.  They too sold Campbel's Soup, Kraft dinner and had turkeys in the freezer. 

They have a Carfour in Sophia, just over an hour from Dolna Banya.  And this is good: I know it may be hard to imagine, but when you are in a place for more than a few months,  there really is more to life than beer, bread and sausages. 

Wherever you go in the world, you need to eat.  Preparing your own food normalizes life, and grocery shopping is a rather vital part of that process.   

I shopped with Jackie at a British Deli in Sophia and with Adam at the Lulu's in Salalah.  I fell further in love with Vasi at the Carfour in Muscat and have continued that relationship through the huge grocery stores in Canada as well as the less impressive Coles and Woolies of Oz.  I have picked up stuff with mom for Christmas at Market Place in Madeira Park and took food to Lynne from the Overwaitea in Coquitlam.  I bought stuff for Jeri’s place in Calgary at Supervalue and shopped at Walmart for Mary’s place in Kragmont.  I have picked up limes and pollo in Gigante in Mexico and even got some pork products at the Spinnies in Salalah. 

Shopping for food: everybody does it.  Everyone has to do it at some point in their life.   

In Darwin: Coles for Christmas

And today.. it was Vassi’s time.  He has picked up eggs and bacon pieces to make breakfast for the neighbour and I.  He got a chicken to roast and some nectarines because they were cheap. He threw in some cilantro because he has found that it is always nice to add a bit of spice to his cooking.

And of course, he got some coffee: so we could sit together over a cup and discuss what we would get, when we went shopping… together. 

It really is a nice team sport… which often makes it the highlight of my week too Vassi.