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Monday, March 31, 2008

Cultural Organizational Methods

Condiments
I went to the grocery store today and I had everything that I need except mayonnaise. I went over to the condiment/canned goods isle to get it. I walked down the isle and didn't see any mayonnaise, but there was mustard, ketchup, salad dressing, BBQ sauce, and soy sauce etc. I thought, "Surely this is where the mayonnaise is. " (I have only bought mayonnaise one other time here and it was over a year ago.) So I walked down the isle again. It still wasn't there. Now, when I first came I was really frustrated by the way that the grocery stores organized their food products. Like the baking yeast being with the jello or how eggs and milk are not always refrigerated. However, I have gotten use to this. But in my mind all condiments were and should be together. I had no idea of where else to look so I started wandering around, reminding myself that things are in different places here. I walked down all the isles (all 5 of them!) just in case. I ended up back down the supposed "condiment" isle. The mayonnaise had not magically appeared, unfortunately.
So I meandered over to the refrigerated products area. I walked down the meat isle and next to the meat was the butter and I thought, "That's weird. Butter is suppose to be by the milk." Then I looked next to the butter and there was the mayonnaise above the packaged herring! Go figure! I should have know! (????)
That is my random story and a glimpse into daily life here AND the small differences between cultures that we usually don't even think about.

1 comments:

Rakel said...

This is the exact story I usually tell when I do my cross cultural class...that it is in these areas that sometimes frustrations grow the largest....and all in all, it is just different...I have never heard anyone else talk about these things...cool