To the Market

The walk home from work brought one of the little victories I’ve come to appreciate in expat living.
Thanks to an apartment-warming party later today, I had a growing grocery list and a date with the supermarket. And then I stepped into the open air market on the way to my tram stop.

I’d already had my test of bravery in the Lidl near my apartment, where I nervously shuffled down narrow aisles and tried not to commit a Hungarian grocery faux-pas.

It was nerve wracking tying to discern the rhythms of the supermarket, but here, where I’d have to offer my halting Hungarian to a merchant for each purchase, I was more intimidated. I was tempted to just walk on through, knowing full well that if I didn’t buy something now I probably wouldn’t for awhile. And then I looked down.

There’s a part of me that will always want to look as if I shop at IKEA (lol I went yesterday), and so when I saw the little succulents, I couldn’t resist. With one interaction painlessly out of the way, a whole new world of possibilities opened up! Produce, desserts, ramen…I wanted it all! But my voracious consumerism was tempered by a single kitchen essential.

My mother keeps a basil plant on the kitchen windowsill at home, and having this living, green thing of my own to add flavor and comfort to a life newly begun seemed like the right idea.

Bagless for this unexpected journey, I jostled and shifted through the tram ride home as I balanced my succulent in one hand and the basil plant on the other. And when I finally set them down in my apartment, I realized I had picked up more than what was on my list.

Wisps of courage, pieces of home.