First trip out

I walked to a mall yesterday, located almost a mile from my flat. It was very small compared to a US mall; perhaps 20 stores, but it had a variety of things, including their version of a department stores and the grocery store! I'm quickly learning that you can't buy much at one time because you have to carry everything with you! This was true when I was in Chicago, but I never had to buy all my groceries there. I saw my first red telephone booth, and I wanted very much to get my picture taken in it, but it was very crowded on that side of the street. I'm very reluctant to look like a tourist; I want to blend in, but maybe that's just impossible. The family that I'm with speak Spanish all the time, so maybe people will think we're from Spain.

The grocery store was VERY crowded!! It was hard to navigate and try to figure out the best deals. One interesting thing is that you can buy milk in boxes over here, and because of the way it's pasteurized, you don't have to refrigerate it until you open it! I wish we had that in the States so I could stock up when it's one sale! I made the mistake of not paying any attention to the different coins here, so when I had to pay I looked like an idiot, staring at each coin trying to give the cashier exact change. After I paid the cashier tried to tell me something, and for the life of me I couldn't understand a thing she was saying! I asked her to repeat twice, but she eventually gave up. Apparently I'm supposed to bag my own groceries, but since I couldn't understand her see just bagged them herself.

The public library is right next to the mall, but we didn't go in because we were carrying a lot of heavy bags all the way back to the flat. I'm very excited to tour New College, the school we are working with, but I'm not sure when that will happen. On Saturday we get to tour a castle that's right in the middle of downtown Oxford.