a long week... and its cold again!

Today I want to write about a funny little thing called culture stress. I thought this picture would be appropriate. It is a selection of nuts and dried fruits. Emphasis on the NUTS!! For those of you who have always lived in the same place, you might not understand what I am talking about. Culture stress is all of the stressors that come with living in a new place. This week in my life EVERYTHING has become a culture stress! They are doing contruction across from my apartment, and the prime drilling time is about midnight! Driving- culture stress; rude people- culture stress; getting stared at just because it is obvious that you arent from here- culture stress. I think my favorite example is at my neighborhood fruit stand. Now, this is no Fresh Market or WalMart even. This is a stand with fruit that comes directly from the garden- they havent even washed off the bugs and dirt! Anyway, to the stressful part. Buying what you want: I want three apples- but I cant buy three apples. I can buy three kilograms!! No matter what I say, the woman wont sell me less than three kilograms. Other people come up- and they buy 2 apples, 4 bananas, 3 potatoes; yet, I cannot buy 3 apples. I dont understand. So I walk away from that little stand with enough produce to feed the hungry in Ethiopia. As they say here, DeVie- just another day!