Shopping Day

            

                                        

It's Sunday and that means grocery shopping.  I wanted to get some pork for dinner tomorrow night, so I needed to go to Spinney's.  It's the only place in our neighborhood that sells it.  I always like to go to the line served by someone who is not Muslim since they don't touch pork.  Today they had only 2 lines and both gals were in burkas.  I felt badly but had no choice.  She simply put her had in a plastic bag and moved the pork into a bag for me.  She did it with a sweet smile - very kind.  She had on a beautiful shimmery beaded burka - very nice.

The area Spinney's is in is called Uptown.  It has shops, restaurants, and condos or apartments.  It's very trendy and nice.  It was pretty quiet this morning but around supper time it comes to life...music, activities for children, lights.  Lots of locals hang out and even eat outside if it cools down a bit.

There is a red post box in the area as well, so I dropped off a few postcards I had written last night.  Faith, Avery, Ryan, Anders,  and Cade - be watching the mail.  Don't know how quickly they will arrive!

From Uptown I went to Carrefour at the mall for the rest of the groceries.  I needed something at the pharmacy - it's a small separate space near the cosmetics.  A young man was working in there and I was having trouble finding what I needed because most of it was packaged with Arabic lettering.  He left for a moment and suddenly a woman appeared to help me. Don't know if he felt uncomfortable helping or if he thot  I was uncomfortable.  Either way I ended up with what I needed.

One of the restaurants we enjoyed last year was Rosa Mexicano...the nicest upscale Mexican place we have experienced.  Great food, presented very well.  Went there for dinner tonight - no community meal on Sunday nights.

We walked the mall before dinner - got in about 2 1/2 miles in cool comfort!  

The locals must eat later - we finished about 7 and the place was nearly empty.  We noticed they had a large back drop and a table filled with sombreros, colorful blankets, and guitars....I think it was set up so people could dress up and take pictures of themselves in Mexico!  

There is a four day Islamic festival this week... Eid-l-Adha.  Should be interesting.  The festival is to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to follow Allah's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.  Many sacrifice a goat or sheep.

In the time around Eid many travel to Mecca.  Muslims may plan and save for years to take part in this event, which is one of the five pillars of Islam.

Stores seem to take advantage of the holiday with big sales...