Today, we "faire le magasins or faire the shopping." something that I always enjoy. We went to the Home Depot of Europe, Brico, to buy some scratch cover the floor. We had a little teeny tiny scratch on the hardwords while we were moving. (Please don't tell our landlord). Then we went to the pet store (Tom & Co.) where we got Science Diet for the cats because they don't have our sophisticated international palates and wanted their old food. They had the cutest baby bunny there and now I'm trying to convince Brett we need a petit lapin for a pet. They also have bird food so we have our bird feeder all set up and are anxious to see from Belgian birds.
After that, the mall in Woluwe St. Pierre which is the same and different from American shopping malls. I learned how "to compare and contrast" in high school so it it goes.
The Same as American Malls
Crying babies, kids running around, wide variety of shops, very crowded (see below why), department stores, upselling the damn extended warranty and a food court (only sort of the same, see below why)
Different from American Malls
Paid parking (one euro/hour); a fee to use the restrooms (thankfully, we didn't have to go): dogs shopping with their owners or maybe just the owners are shopping but the dogs are there, too; bi or trilingual retail workers who seem like speaking English is absolutely no problem and not that we shouldn't be in their country if we can't speak the language; very crowded because the government limits the time for sales to twice a year (January and July); wine bars; and the fanciest damn food court ever--wine, cheese, bread, chocolate, and a store that sells oil and vinegar so you can mix your own custom vinaigrette (pictures to follow). We went to a fromagerie (cheese store) and when we told the worker that we couldn't get Cantal in America (because it's unpasteurized), the patrons all gasped.
And the other good news is our neighbor, a lovely man from France whose name I can't remember, invited us to his home for dinner next Saturday. Still I miss all of you so much.
At the shopping mall in Quito, there was one toilet paper dispenser in the hall between the men's restrooms and the women's (otherwise it was all very fancy) but you had to commit to how much paper you were going to need before you went in -- and in front of a lot of folks. Good times.
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