grocery boy sighting!

I saw Grocery Boy again today!  Did my heart flutter?  Just a bit, friends, just a bit.  I was actually planning on shopping at his store (not because of him, ha, but because I was nearby and needed groceries) - so I was on my merry little way to the main door when I heard, "Annyonghaseyo!"  It looks better in Korean --


안녕하세요!!


Who else could it be but Grocery Boy?  He had been moving something or helping someone outside of the store and had noticed me as I walked by - I hadn't noticed him until he spoke up, as happens more often than not, ha.  How cute is that?  I don't care if he's being nice just to sell me stuff, people - I get a kick out of his excellent spot-the-foreigner/KP abilities.

For some reason I stopped walking -- I don't know what was going on there, haha.  Maybe some part of me wanted to chat or somehow acknowledge his friendliness, but neither of us has that much ability in the other's language.  Yet.  (I am working on it, people.)

Anyway, there I am, hesitating about 5 feet away from him, and my brain finally kicks into motion with, "Wait, what?  Why did you stop?  What are you going to say?"  Thankfully, Grocery Boy saved me by asking me where I was going -- in Korean.  Magically, I can sometimes understand things like this - part of it is context - what else would he be asking? - the other part, ha, is the ability to recognize small parts of sentences - "where" and some form of the verb "go" - so I replied with, "I'm shopping!" and gestured towards the store.  (Shopping is actually almost the same in English and Korean, peeps.  Convenient!)  He said, "Really?!" - in Korean, ha - cute.  I was like, "Yep!"  (But that was more of a nod and a smile and then an embarrassed head duck as I scampered away to collect a shopping basket, ha.)

So then I wandered the aisles a little while, staring vacantly at the goods in the store.  I didn't have any clear shopping goals other than "cookies would be good" and "I should probably get some vegetables."  Usually I have more of a plan, ha, but not today.  I collected a few things (cookies, oyster sauce, and a bottle of water -- for my orchid, haha) before Grocery Boy found me and said something to me in Korean.  I stared at him for a second but then decided to go with the "I'm fine" response to what I assumed was a "Do you need help with anything?" question -- but that didn't clear things up, ha, so I tried "Ah, I'm just looking right now" with a sweeping gesture over the goods nearby and he said, "Ah," and nodded, and went back to man the register.

So then (you are getting the detailed version of events, clearly!) I went over to the cabbage.  I did need a cabbage.  I did not want to have to give it to the vegetable lady to check, but I figured, what the heck, I am going to have to get used to this sooner or later.  But as luck had it, my favorite cabbage had been labeled already - someone had chosen it and then changed his or her mind, so it was back in the pile.  I did get some carrots, though.  Maybe I will post a picture of those carrots for your viewing pleasure - they are very different than the carrots we eat back home, fellow Americans.

These carrots required bagging - it took me a minute to separate a bag from the bunch, because I am slow - mentally and physically, ha.  I was going carry my bag of carrots in my hand while I looked at the rest of the produce before going to the label lady, that way I could just hand my goods to her all at once.  Grocery Boy must have been keeping an eye on me because he came over, said something to me in Korean, and took my carrots from me to hand to the lady, haha.  Then he went back to his register, I got my carrots back from the lady, tried asking a man who worked there if I needed to do anything with my cabbage, succeeded in just confusing him, ha, and then went over to the sauces to look for okonomiyaki sauce.  No dice there, alas.

As I was getting ready to pay, I noticed that Grocery Boy was still at the checkout counter, but that another person had started working as well on the opposite counter - both had one person in each line.  Which to choose?  I delayed, thinking that it would be fun to go with Grocery Boy.  But his people took a while - questions of some sort - so I ended up choosing the other line (not because I was in a hurry, ha, but because I was clearly done shopping and to do otherwise would have been soooo obvious, haha) which was cool too because a nice lady took over just before I got there.  Not that the man who had been before her was uncool, but the ladies and Grocery Boy are always super sweet to me, ha.

Right!  So I paid, said thank you in two languages to the checkout lady, then paused while putting my money in my purse, thinking, "Ah, I should - should I? -- say goodbye to Grocery Boy?"  The checkout lady had already said goodbye to me, and in that split second of my own hesitation at the threshold, Grocery Boy said goodbye to me as well.  I turned around and said goodbye to him with a little nod and smile, and that was it.

Man, I sure draw out certain experiences, don't I?  That whole shopping thing didn't take that long, but I can make mountains out of molehills whenever Grocery Boy (or any boy, really) is concerned, ha.

And just when you thought the night was over -- one. more. post.

See?  Very different!  Very dirty!  And big!  Not as big as some I've seen around here, but way chunkier than the US varieties.  I am interested to see how they are to cook.  I was just planning on being boring with them and seasoning them with ginger, orange, and cardamom.  I'm tame like that, haha.  It would be better with honey - hm.  I'll have to acquire some.