2000 tenge and toilet paper

Linda Here...

I took Bacha out yesterday afternoon to buy toilet
paper etc. Rebecca wrote and had suggested that maybe
some time splitting up the kids would feel good and it
did. Thank you.

Bacha and I ventured over to the honey store as we
call it. It was the first place Mike found honey.
When you eat the honey here, all local, you get quite
a rush. It reminds us of the shots of grass we used
to get at Jamba Juice in San Francisco. Yes, for all
of you from other parts of the country, in California
besides drinking coffee you can get shots of wheat
grass for a quick buzz.

It was a quiet uneventful walk to the store. It took
about 10 minutes. There were taxis and mud puddles to
maneuver around. Bacha held my hand the whole walk
without incident. She wanted to be let loose when we
got inside the store but I wouldn't let her. I think
she and I have come to an understanding. I have taken
the Baby House suggestion to heart and I am being
really strict with Bacha, at least on two counts. She
knows when she has to hold my hand and she also knows
that the interior of her nose is mine.

I bought shampoo and Q-tips at the first booth. The
lady saw me coming and responded immediately to my
pointing. She said the amount but I could tell she
didn't expect me to know what she was saying. As she
said the numbers she punched them into the calculator
and turned it towards me. Of course, this was the
smart thing to do. I pull out a 2000 tenge note and
got my 1640 change back.

I asked Mike for 2000 tenge before we left. Mike
carries all the money and I track it. We negotiated
this system and it seems to work. Although this might
be one reason why I haven't ventured out much on my
own. Mike has been the primary hunter and I the
primary caregiver.

I wanted to bring back a little something for Tucker
on this trip so I found him some socks with soccer
balls on it at the next booth. Bacha and I walked
once around after that. The building houses booths in
a U shape with aisles made of one booth in the middle
as we found most of the buildings do. There were
about 15 booths in this building, 3 in the middle and
the rest around the perimeter. Each booth has one or
two salesclerks in it.

This seemed like a good day to buy Bacha something
girly. I found a booth that had toiletries and
detergents. I saw that the nail polish was only 80
tenge (about 65 cents) so I had Bacha choose a color.
You can't touch anything. You see everything through
plexiglass. This booth was larger than the others and
had two salesladies. I would say it was about 20' x
6' deep. I gave the woman a 100 tenge coin and got
back my change.

When I go to a store I seem to be compelled to spend
whatever money I am carrying with me. A good reason
for Mike to hold all the money on this trip. As we
were circling the store again I thought it might be
nice to buy Bacha an outfit. I love little girl
clothes but didn't want to buy much before we left as
I was unsure of Mia/Bacha's size. I noticed a booth I
had shopped at the week before for underwear. All the
underwear I had brought from home for Mia was too big.
The woman behind the counter was quite nice and
acknowledged me as I had walked by the first time.

Not all the ladies in the booths are friendly or even
acknowledge a shopper. Some will sit and do cross
word puzzles or keep their backs turned for awhile
while you look at the merchandise. I have noticed
when shopping with Sveta that she would not
necessarily wait for an acknowledgment from the sales
clerk or even wait her or our turn. Sveta would just
shove her way in and speak up leaving everyone else to
wait. The only time I am comfortable doing this is
when we are getting on the planes in-country where we
were told if you are travelling with children to move
ahead. As you board the plane you just make your way
to the front of the line and sit where you want. There
are no assigned seats.

The woman at the underwear/clothing booth was engaging
me so I went to her booth to find Bacha's outfit. I
didn't see anything I liked through the plexiglass so
she looked down at the base of the display and pulled
out a plastic bag with a stack of bellbottom pants in
it. They all had a little bit of glitter and so cute.
I am not really up on the latest fashions, but if two
years ago is any indication these clothes will be in
style in the states next season. They seem to be
ahead here. Must be the European influence. After
several tries with my tape measure we didn't find
anything that was the right size. The saleslady
pushed the display out - it was a wheely thing about
3'x 3'x 3' and we stepped into the booth.

As the saleslady was undressing Bacha to try on the
pants Bacha grabbed the ladies cheeks and starting
squeezing. It startled the woman but she took it in
stride and they both started speaking Russian. It all
sounded very sing/song. Bacha was laughing and the
saleslady seemed delighted. We found pants and a top
that we were happy with. The prices were handwritten
on the tags. Which I just pulled out as I am writing
this. The washing instructions on the pants are in a
strange sort of English. Oh, this is interesting, the
instructions read:

Whshed Derection
1. Do Wash by hand
2. Don't Blench
3. Mid Iron(150 degrees C)
4. Only Dry
5. Don't Reach
6. Only Chlorine

The total came to 1400 tenge, about 12 dollars.
Unfortunately there are no sizes on the garments which
makes it tough to buy for Bacha or anyone else. I
paid the lady and we moved on to another booth.

Next we went back to the toiletries booth and bought a
bar of soap - Camay for 60 tenge. This was to replace
the bar of what I thought might be olive oil soap
bought at the Green Market. The Green Market soap was
only 25 tenge (20 cents). It is plentiful at the
market and unfortunately must be made of leftover
animal parts - we couldn't stomach the smell although
it made some nice lather.

I still had a few tenge left so I stopped off at one
more booth. I thought I would have a little fun as
the sales clerk was young and looked friendly. I
asked her for "large men's black socks please" she
smiled good heartedly, I laughed and I walked over the
the spot where I saw the socks I wanted and pointed.
I said "bolshoy spaciba" meaning large please. She
wrote out 45 whereas the socks she showed me read 39 -
42. I nodded and she pulled out a pair for me. I put
down 120 tenge and we were done. Oh, but I still had
toilet paper to buy - the original impetus for the
trip. The lady at this booth was not very engaging
and ignored me as long as she could. Unfortunately
this was the only booth with toilet paper. The
toiletries booth didn't have any - it is all very
strange. I paid the 190 tenge in my small change that
was left and we were out the door. Bacha was
delighted to carry her bag of goodies and we set off
for home.

bye for now.

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