Ramyun

Alas...no post banner today ^^ but here's a complementary picture instead:

Kimchi flavoured Ramyun

The picture above shows what I just ate, which leads me on to a little story that I want to share with you guys today.

Firstly, I'd say that I'm the type of person that is quite open to new/different things (within reason, of course), which is why I don't mind shopping in random places or going to places that you typically wouldn't see a Somali person. An example of this would be my trips to the local Chinese supermarket that I frequent a lot, which sells several Asian foods and goods (Japanese, Korean and Chinese products all under one roof). The only thing is, as someone who doesn't eat pork or pork based stuff, I have to look carefully at the package to make sure there isn't any in whatever I want to get. This is why nowadays, the only time I go there is to stock up on certain things- Ramyun being one of them. Although I don't eat Ramyun often, I like to have a stash so that I can have an instant meal that tastes delicious- particularly when I need a cheer-up.

Anyway.. I digress....

So, on the last occasion I went to stock up, I decided that since I was going to get some unhealthy treats, I might as well walk there. I opted to take the 3 mile route, even though it's less than a mile away. I get there eventually- soaked in rain and feeling really peeved. Usually I like to take in my surroundings, but on this particular occasion I was thinking, "Get the stuff, then go". Eventually I made my way to the cashier..

Usually when I check out at this particular establishment, I'm always greeted warmly and have often been given random free things to take with me (often things like dried fruit..this one lady gave me a huge bag once that I spent ages trying to finish). This particular cashier, however, was just right out staring at me... giving me a look that was akin to the deadly "you're in big trouble, young lady" look that parents give. At this point,  I looked away as he was serving the lady in front of me, and acted as though I hadn't noticed- all the while thinking, "Dude... you can stop that now." And I'm not even joking o_O. Like literally, he'll scan *beep, STARE, not even looking at what he's scanning. Even the lady in front turns around to look, which of course makes things even awkward. Anyways...

He eventually looked away, though not entirely. This time his attention diverted to the items I was about to purchase. The lady in front had done some massive shopping, so as she was finishing up the packing and searching through her bag to pay, the cashier picked up my packs of Ramyun and turned them around, looking at them nonstop- for a good 2 minutes at-least. Even after the lady paid him, he took the money with one hand, whilst holding a pack of my Ramyun in the other. The lady finally left, having eventually received her receipt, and gave him a look I can only describe as the, "What the heck, dude!" look. I, on the other hand, was just really confused.

By now it was my turn to be served, and as I'm waiting on the other end, I notice Mr.Cashier is withholding my items. He didn't even look up at me, or say "give me a moment", so I cleared my throat really loudly to get his attention *Ahem!

He looks up quickly, snapping out of the trance that these packaged noodles had clearly placed over him.

Now, for the sake of what I am about to say next, let me describe Mr.Cashier. Mr.Cashier, without a doubt, looked 100% Chinese to me, working at this mostly Chinese employed store in which all the employees I saw spoke in Mandarin/Cantonese to each other (and to some of the customers too). So when he said to me, "Sister...", I was a little taken aback. I mean, of course there is a massive muslim population in  China- I mean, I once received acupuncture from this lovely Chinese lady who took great pride in telling me that she too was Muslim.  But of course, I just hadn't expected this Mr.Cashier to be Muslim as well... so what he said next took me aback even more.

"Sister, I'm muslim too you know. I was just checking the ingredients on your items to see whether they had any pork in them for you." And there you have it....

I learnt 2 things that day.

1) Never assume and 2) Staring can totally give off the wrong impression and is therefore best avoided. Yup.

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Lastly, to finish off, here's a little photo showing what I ate with my noodles.

Yup.. moos (banana). One thing I really like about Somali culture is the fact that we eat moos with practically everything...ok maybe not EVERYTHING but dang, still tastes awesome with MOST things at least!

[Also, I've failed at keeping this post short but hey, it was fun to write!]

Toodles!