I am currently sitting in my Aunt’s kitchen in Indiana, in the town I grew up in. I dropped the kids at my moms house (a couple hours away) and am spending the next three weeks collecting my dissertation data.
Being back here has been interesting. I have been preparing myself to drive everywhere – hello extra podcasts, and have been a bit concerned about the social isolation – but I am here to work. What I was not prepared for is how overwhelming it is to go into a superstore. They are just…SO. BIG. Usually when I visit we’ll run to Gymboree or the Gap and maybe Target (the normal sized one by moms house) and that’s it. This trip I ended up in a Super Target…Twice. And then today was in Super Wal.Mart. It was a lot. I know this has to sound funny since I live in the BIGGEST CITY, but something about the stores that have everything seems too much for my senses.
A flip side of this, when I first moved to NYC 10 years ago, I needed to buy light bulbs. I remember being at a complete loss as to where to buy them, because at home, you go to Wal.Mart for everything. If you are wondering, I was sent to the local hardware store.
It is going to be interesting being here for so long.
PS. I just remembered I wrote something similar, and when I went to link it – a #microblog post from almost exactly a year ago.
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Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.
I know this feeling very well!! We don’t have any of those jumbo stores here so it is butcher, baker, fruit and veg marker, hardware store, wood shop, etc. etc. when we go out to buy things, and although my hometown in Canada is tiny so we still don’t have any of those jumbo stores there either, we do have them in the nearby towns so I have visited them on our trips back to Canada… and WOAH! It is a lot! I remember in maybe our third or fourth year living in the DR, we went back to the USA visiting our old town in New Jersey and went to a big sports store there, staring at a WALL of basketballs in awe. Why does one need that many basketball options?! TOO MUCH! Another time we found Anthony in the garden section of a giant Walmart, staring at garden gnomes saying, “I don’t know why, but I feel like we need one of these! …. We need to go now!!”It is definitely weirdly overwhelming. I hope your work there goes well and you enjoy your time there as well!
I have similar feelings when I go home or find myself in an area where mass transit is not readily available. The super stores are crazy and I find myself easily getting lost in them now. On the flip, I remember first moving to the city and struggling with going to the corner grocery store and realizing that I needed to make separate trips to the drug store and the hardware store for all my needs. I guess we get use to what we’re comfortable with.
Good luck with finishing your dissertation.
Love the synchronicity of your #MicroblogMonday posts. We shop regularly at a Super Walmart, and a ginormous Market Basket (local grocery store chain), and I still find them overwhelming. Best of luck with your dissertation!
I am from Indiana and this made me think, what would I do if their was no Meijer or Wal-Mart….crazy notion. Enjoy your time in Indiana and save travels!
Good luck collecting data!
It’s funny — I just commented on another post, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a Walmart. We just don’t have them around here. Or maybe they are here and I just don’t know about them?