The Language Barrier

One of the most challenging things with moving abroad is the language barrier. Simple tasks such as telling a taxi driver where to take you, purchasing food at the grocery store, asking where the bathroom is, and even ordering a coffee become major hurdles and you feel like you're jumping through hoops of flames to accomplish them. Buying food at the grocery store seems like it should be an easy task. I mean you know what most of the fresh fruit and vegetable items are and even packaged goods you can typically tell what is what. That still doesn't stop you from standing in the milk section staring at 10 different cartons wondering what each one is. Is it 2%, 1%, Skim, Long Life milk, goat milk, cow milk, soy milk, raw milk, fresh milk? I have no clue! I've stepped into almost every single grocery store and convenience store in search of the "perfect" reasonably priced milk that I will choose to buy for the next few years and have yet to find one. Every time I get to the milk section my mind goes blank, I stare aimlessly for what feels like hours only to walk out empty handed more confused than when I started. The other day I thought I was buying blueberry yogurt due to the pictures of blueberries on the outside of the carton, but today when I went to eat that yogurt I realized it wasn't just blueberry. It was blueberry and Chinese yam yogurt. Chinese yams... really in yogurt?!?! Actually the yogurt didn't taste all that bad, very berry-licous. I guess one of the benefits of not overanalyzing what you purchase is that you get to experience things you wouldn't have tried otherwise. As I continue to "stock" our kitchen here I can guarantee you there will be plenty more food posts coming up! Oh and for those of you that are curious like I am... here is a link to the Chinese yams: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_opposita