Palau: The US Has Been Here

“Mom!  Look!  They have Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate!  We haven’t had that forever!!”  

I’m trying hard to stick to my shopping list, but the exclamations of excitement coming from my kids (and my husband - Sierra Nevada beer!) come to me from all sides as I walk the aisles.  

Koolaid!  Fritos!  Hidden Valley Ranch!  Dr. Pepper!  

Can you tell how long it’s been since we’ve been in a place to provision with American products??  The shelves overwhelm me with their familiarity.  My mind grapples with trying to make sense of the fact that we’re so far from the US, but in so many ways it looks and feels like we’re home.  

A part of me cringes at all the junkfood we’re being reaquainted with and the neverending chorus of “Can we get this?  We haven’t seen this anywhere for so long!”  

On one hand I want to splurge, indulge, dive in.  On the other hand, I’m sad to see us all falling back into crazy consumer mode.  I try to sift through my conflicting feelings and find a balance between ‘go ahead, enjoy it while you’ve got it!’ and ‘had we really even missed this until we saw it?’  

Ship finally came in, bringing fresh (as fresh as one can be after a trip across the Pacific!) produce :)

Everyone throws a few indulgences into the shopping cart, and I decide to curb the enthusiasm by simply offering to take a photo of anything we might want to get before we check out of Palau.  It seems to calm the chaos and quiet the ‘I want’ monster that’s popped up within each of us since we walked into the grocery store.  Each of us take our turn at clicking away. 

The checkout counter brings more familiarity as the cashier states our total in US dollars.  We open our wallets to see the bills we haven’t used for years.  When she gives me back a handful of American coins, I peer down and see the back of a nickel.  It seems familiar, but somehow not.  I can feel the wheels turning in my brain, attempting to resolve the inconsistencies.  New country, old money.  It all just feels weird!  I think I need to self-medicate with a bag of my favorite white cheddar popcorn...

Ah, the comforts of home...