So my roommate decided she wanted to make jambalaya for Christmas and she was going to have to work during the day so I agreed to go shopping for what she needed. I knew the stores would be closed on Christmas so this was my only chance. It was the day before Christmas.
Little did I know that I did not know what half the items on the list were. So I am standing in the aisle looking for peeled plum tomatoes and decided to ask the African American lady next to me if she knew what they were. She wasn't sure either, so I told her it was for jambalaya. Then she told me exactly what to get. Feeling confident that she may know what the other items were I went on to ask her what scallions were. She was super nice and told me where to find them. Then I asked her what worcestershine sauce was. She said "I'm gonna help you with that whole shopping list ain't I!" with a smile. She could tell I had no idea what these things were.
I proceeded to find the items she told me about. When I came to the scallions, I had to ask another lady cuz I couldn't find them. She described what they looked like and told me to ask the stocker. I asked him and he said they didn't sell them anymore. As I was walking away, a white guy came up to me and handed me what I call green onions and said "These are scallions" with a smile. The older African American lady next to me said, the stocker guy probably didn't know cuz we call them green onions. I saw the first lady I talked to near by greeting the lady that told me to talk to the stocker about the scallions and double checked to see if they were scallions and they said scallions are bigger, but they are the same thing. I ran into these ladies 2-3 more times and every time they said "What else you need help with, what else you got on that list?" in a very kind and excited to help kind of way. I felt so cared for by these ladies that they took joy in helping me find all the ingredients. I found myself smiling big trying to hold back my laughter as I was shopping feeling utterly dependent on the people around me. I find great joy in learning cultures and love the excitement people have to share their culture.
People have said that people can be grumpy and impatient around the holidays, but this day people were very nice and even taking time out to help me. The cashier was telling me with a big smile how excited she was to be off for Christmas and get off early. I could feel the joy radiating from her. As I was leaving the parking lot I let an older African American lady pass by and I said "Merry Christmas!" She said "Thank you and a Merry Christmas to you too!" with a very upbeat attitude. It felt good to experience people in such good spirits.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
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