We bought a watermelon at the market today, and it’s in fact sparking a post. Call us easily amused, perhaps, but we’re studying another language for quite a few hours each day, so it’s inevitable.
First off, watermelons are fairly small here, more like cantaloupe-sized. This worries me for what they put in those ginormous watermelons in the states that are more the size of a small child.
When we purchased the melon, the guy picked it up, took his little spoon, and used the end of it to cut out a piece of the watermelon–like this:
He popped out the piece, showed it to us (assumably to impress us at the lovely color and delicious-looking quality). He then put it back in the melon and handed it to us in a bag.
And we thought it was cool. That was about it.
Two other side notes equally as irrelevant to the world:
– This country is obsessed with plastic bags. They could very easily be using the same amount in Mae Sot as the whole of America, and it’s ridiculous. And they tend to get offended if you say you don’t need one and you’ll just stick whatever-it-is in your own bag. Today I bought some corn from a vendor that already had all the vegetables bagged–they were in tied plastic bags, divided in the amounts she wanted to sell them in. And even then, when I implied I didn’t need to put my already-bagged corn in another bag to go along with my six others I was already carrying, she looked shocked… ?
– Hula hoops are making a comeback in this country. They are in every store and market, with kids and adults alike bringing them back for both exercise and fun. It’s bizarre, like we time-warped into the 80s.
Gary says
What a dinky melon! I think the difference between the one there and those in the states are genetics. In the states they are always trying to improve them, make them bigger, seedless, etc. I think we should send you some seeds from the states and you could wow them.
Hula hoops? My dad used to say, “What goes around comes around”, his translation of Ecclesiastes 1:9-10.
Gena says
What did taste like? Was it sweet? It looked really good.
Mom says
I think it is fun to learn about all these little things that make Mae Sot different from Little Rock! It feels like we have a little taste of your world over there. 🙂