Navigating the Grocery Store

On my first day alone, after dropping the girls off for their first day of school, I had a few things I had to accomplish. I had to find the office of some tax professionals (they’ll help prepare our return this first year) and I also had to find the grocery store. So, dressed with comfy shoes, I set out on my merry little way.


Thankfully for me, the tax professionals are on the same street as Terry’s work, so I found that with little trouble! But…I still had to find the grocery store. Rather than stumble around the streets of Taipei, I decided to ask the tax professionals for help. The tax professionals directed me to a place called ‘Wellcome’ (thanks Judy for mentioning it to me!), which I found with little trouble.

At first glance, it looks somewhat like the Asian super-markets in California, but smaller and more compact. From the street, the place looked like a 7-11, but as I’m finding here, looks can be deceiving. The place actually was quite deep, and given that the aisles are quite narrow, it was packed with most of what I needed. So, I started with the meat…fairly straight forward. Nice, neat little packages just like I’m accustomed to…nothing scary like pigs’ knuckles or intestines. I was able to find some chicken breast, boneless, skinless and cubed…how convenient! The prices were a bit higher than I was looking for, but given this first trip, I was ok (for now at least). Next….on to the dairy.

I was feeling rather confident in myself and headed to what appeared to be the right section. HOWEVER, I soon realized that all of the dairy items were in Mandarin!!

Yikes…how am I going to be able to tell what is the flavored milk vs. soy milk vs. rice milk? OK, skip milk…on to butter. Uh-oh…same thing! How can I tell the butter from the margarine? At first glance, all I found were small bags of individually packaged butter (the tiny packages served at restaurants along with bread). How am I going to prepare dinner for my skinny-minnies with no butter? Seriously, I looked for what seemed 5 whole minutes before I found a rather large butter-looking package from Australia. Honestly, I have NO idea how much it cost, but given the necessity of butter, I took my chances.


Now thoroughly shaken over the milk and butter, I purchased the laughing cow cheese, given it was the one thing I could read (and that I know the girls will eat)! Oh yeah, I still had to buy yogurt…I saw yogurt drinks, milky-chalky-super-sweet yogurt drinks…but where is the Yoplait? Where is the Stoneyfield Farms products?? Again, with everything in Mandarin, I settled on some type of strawberry drink.

After the dairy aisle, I am in full panic mode. I couldn’t believe how amazingly naïve I was not to consider that the products stocked at a grocery store in Taipei would be in Mandarin? It was yet another instance in how I completely take for granted some of the most fundamental things about my suburban life I left behind. After taking solace in the cracker aisle, where I was able to find Chinese crackers I knew (THANK YOU Ranch 99 in CA!), I calmed down enough to try some pepper/salt combo (I couldn’t find a salt-shaker…just pepper/salt combined) and some type of curry. At least I had some thoughts for a home-cooked meal that night. After eating out exclusively for about 4-5 weeks, the thought of a home-cooked meal sounded good!



As I was beginning to fill up my shopping cart, I began to notice how heavy it was becoming. Oh yeah, that’s right…I have to carry all this stuff on the subway to get home! The clerk was an expert at packing and carefully placed ALL of my items in my backpack and my large shopping bag I had smartly remembered to bring (see, I AM getting it, slowly but surely!). Now that I had loaded up, I attempted to find my way back to the subway station.

About 3 blocks down, I realized that I was lost and as I had exited the tax building differently from where I entered it, I was having a rough time orienting myself. Now what? Not wanting to give in to fear, I walked up to a woman and asked (in Mandarin folks) where Min Quian Street was (the street where the subway was located). At first, she answered in Mandarin and began to tell me which streets to take. Seeing the deer-in-the-headlights look about me, in broken English, she take to take a left at the next block and I’d find it. Whew! Man, I am sooooo lucky that so many people in Taipei speak a few words!

I found the street I needed with little trouble, and even jumped on a bus back to the subway, as those bags were REALLY getting heavy after walking about 8 blocks. I managed to get back to the apartment rather unscathed, with my groceries still relatively cold, and shot off a quick email to Terry to let him know that I survived, went grocery shopping, and was off to pick up the girls.

I feel fortunate that so far, this still feels like a honeymoon. Given that this environment is so amazingly different from anything I’ve ever experienced, (and I was expecting it to be so) I am still excited about exploring and figuring things out. I’m surprised at how easy it is to get around, and the more I get out, the less scary it seems. To be honest, I almost fear the day when all of this seems ‘normal’. I can only hope that I’ll find new challenges in this new life here which will keep me engaged. Until then…on to the next challenge!