Food!

Going to the grocery store- what an adventure! I feel like I'm a detective, analyzing all of the packaging to figure out what exactly is inside of there! Some things are obvious, other things...not so much! For my very first trip to the grocery store I tagged along with a neighbor- thank goodness! We went to a store called "Casa dos Frescos", which I would say is more like an oversized quick mart than a grocery store. Picking stuff out wasn't that hard because I was really just going for the basics- milk, cheese, water, etc. But the whole different currency thing (the Angolan money is called Kwanzas) just threw me for a loop! Since it was a Sunday, the "cambio" (change booth) was closed, so they said they would take American Dollars at the register. When I got up to the register, I unloaded all of my groceries onto the counter and waited for the cashier to check me out. When he was finished he blurts some big number out at me so I panic and just fan a bunch of 20 dollar bills at him. He takes 4 of them and then types the total amount into his cash register. Then he comes back and says, "240 Kwanzas" so I say, "Oh, you want more money?" and he shakes his head and says "noooo." So I ask, "Oh, you want less money?" and again he says "nooooo." Oh my, what else could he possibly want?! At this point I'm getting nervous because I don't know what to do and I feel like everyone else in line is starring at me, so I shoot the neighbor a look and say "He keeps asking for 240 Kwanzas, but he doesn't want more or less of my money. I'm so confused." The neighbor pays the cashier 240 Kwanzas and we walk out of the store. I later realize the cashier just didn't have small enough Kwanzas to give me change, so he needed me to give him some Kwanzas in order to make change. No clue what I would have done if I was by myself! So here is what I bought that day... 1. Six 1-liter boxes of milk- 1,118.5 Kwanzas ($14.91) 2. Four 4-oz yogurts- 1,095.1 Kwanzas ($14.60) 3. Four 1.5 bottles of water- 592.8 Kwanzas ($7.90) 4. Two cartons of juice- 569.4 Kwanzas ($7.59) 5. One block of cheddar cheese- 616.5 Kwanzas ($8.22) 6. One can of Pringles potato chips- 481.3 Kwanzas ($6.42) 7. Two rolls of paper towels- 366.6 Kwanzas ($4.89) 8. One bottle of kids bath soap- 399.4 Kwanzas ($5.33) For a grand total of- 5,239.6 Kwanzas or $69.86! So everything is very expensive and things can be hard to find. People say they have become hoarders- buying up as much of an item as possible when you see it in a store because you never know if the store will have it the next time you go in...or ever again! Here are some pictures of my bounty from my first shopping trip and my very first Kwanza!