So I'm STILL adjusting to the Montenegrin pace of life. People get from point A to point B by taking casual strolls, which is much different from the California speedwalk. Their walk is also interrupted once every few minutes by running into someone they know and having a quick (or sometimes not-so-quick) conversation. It seems like there are really no obligations here. Life is all about spending time with friends and family, cooking good food and enjoying yourself. Multiple shop owners I have talked to have said that "Americans don't know how to live. They think its all work, work, work and no time for nothing else". I guess that is somewhat true, especially compared to how things are here.
Today I had to go to the doctor for my ankle. I hurt it in practice the other day (which was no big deal at the time) but it has slowly been in more and more pain. Luckily, the doctor said it was just some strain in the tendons and with a little bit of rest and restricted practice all will be well. In the meantime, lots of stem, ultrasound and lasering. Not my idea of fun.
On the way home, I decided to go to another grocery store to check out the goods. (I usually go to the store that's right by my apartment, but they don't always have what I'm looking for) It was awesome!! I found some frozen chicken, which apparently is hard to come by and some other things that aren't at Maxi. I was very excited about these purchases and after she rang me up and I gave her my card she just shook her head. Oops. Apparently they didn't accept cards and she made me go to the Bankomat (ATM) and get money. buuuut, the bankomat was out of money so I had to go put everything back. Bummer. So I continued my shopping errand at Maxi. While I was about 45 minutes into the Maxi perusing, I thought about when I was little and people would say "hurry up! we don't have all day!!" then I just chuckled to myself and thought "well actually, I DO have all day". I grocery shopped for a total of two hours today. That was my form of entertainment. I tried to think of meals I could cook and tracked down all of the ingredients (usually I could find everything but one or two items so I had to give up that dish and move on to another). I branched out a little bit and got some things to cook for dinner because I've been stuck in an awful pasta rut. I got some vegetables, chicken, rice and beans, which will be a nice change. I wanted tortillas to make nice little burritos, but there is absolutely no way they would have tortillas or anything of the sort here.
Even though I don't really have much to show for the day, I kept myself entertained which is the ultimate goal. I now know every single ingredient in the grocery store and can start brainstorming some meal ideas that remind me of home.
r.i.c.e. thank you gonzaga education!
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