One of my favorite parts of travelling is going to the local grocery stores. I've recorded my propensity for
lingering in grocery aisles before. Grocery shopping in the Middle East has become pretty routine by now, so few things stop me in my tracks anymore, even though many of you would probably spend hours just gawking at some of the items. Every now and then, though, something pops up that makes me scramble for my phone to snap a photo. Here are a few such examples.
This one turned out a bit fuzzy because I was trying to be sneaky. These are labeled "basil seed drink" and I can only assume that those fuzzy looking blobs in the un-naturally red and green liquids are the seeds of basil plants. I have no idea why you would want that, but there were at least 4 flavors on offer. I did not buy one.
In a conservative country like Kuwait, where the covers of magazines are routinely colored in with a black Sharpie if there is even a hint of cleavage, this packaging caught my eye. That's an awfully suggestive lotion box. Wait, that's not lotion, that is Bust Firming Cream...
I'll just leave it at that. I did not buy one.
I apologize for this second super fuzzy photo, but just has I got my phone out it was my turn at the cash register, so I was super awkward all in the name of blogging glory. I took this photo while shopping for ingredients on Thanksgiving. November 27. Those are Hawaiian Tropic tanning oils. In November.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
I did not buy one.
The grocery store I go to often runs promotional specials for the countries from which they import goods. The store is already pretty flamboyant to begin with, as exhibited by the multi-colored curlicues that are permanently hanging from the sky lights in the photo above. A few weeks back, the store was having a special on items from Great Britain so they crafted a styrofoam and cardboard display of the parliament building and Big Ben. You know. Just because.
I probably did buy a few items from Great Britain, though probably not because of this display.
This was another display. Apparently the Silver Surfer's son has found a girlfriend and a fabulous sale on children's clothes at the Lulu grocery store. I can only imagine the meeting with the marketing director when putting this one together. "Copyright shmopyright. Those kids need to be surrounded by their favorite cartoon or game app characters! Head down to the local art center (that we call the project souq) with a USB loaded up with google image searched files and have them make intellectual-property-rights-infringing styrofoam cut outs!"
I did not buy any children's clothes. Or Disney/Hello Kitty/Dora the Explorer/Angry Birds/Spiderman rip-offs.
It makes me chuckle that sights like this have become so common in my life that I don't really notice them anymore. I love living overseas.
Vicariously yours,
