watermelon tasting.

i keep thinking the "weird" of this place is becoming normal...and then something so absurd happens, i know i'll never really get used to it! today's moment happened at the grocery. going to the grocery in america is usually pretty average, easy, and unsurprising. the grocery is asia is about the exact opposite: saleswomen shout at you on every aisle to buy their product, chips have flavors like 'spicy shrimp', and it is rare to feel successful upon completing your shopping.

i was shopping for our family dinner and simply needed some watermelon to use for our fruit kabobs. turns out this grocery only had GIANT watermelons that certainly wouldn't have survived the scoot ride home. i mustered up the courage to gesture and ask if i could buy only half of a watermelon (another thing i'm learning about this place: rules are more of suggestions and asking gets you pretty far)! i successfully communicated my request, and my new fruit lady friend disappears to cut my watermelon.

when she returned holding the dripping, juicy melon, i'm so pleased to see she has half, and it looks like i can buy it. she begins shouting to me in her local dialect (of which i know ZERO), so i just keep telling her "wo yao" (i want it). next thing i know my new friend sticks her FAR from clean fingers straight into the watermelon, snatches a bite, and shoves it into my mouth...dirty fingers and all. laughing in shock, i taste the watermelon and try to ignore the dirt kernels crunching alongside. my little friend was so pleased that i liked it and seemed pleased with herself for allowing me a taste. it was a perfectly asian moment where i had to laugh instead of cry, because what can you even do? and in that moment be thankful that although i live in a place of utter chaos, i am developing a weird love of the absurdity. fortunately the melon was good and our kabobs were a hit!