Yesterday's Adventure

I ended up in Kissimmee last night. I'm never on the Kissimmee side of town (it is southwest of Orlando; I live northeast of Orlando). But this is a very interesting place...it's where all the Disney tourists are. I went to a Walmart there and loved it! First off the Walmart was packed. I felt like I was back in TESCO-Lotus in Saraburi, all I needed was some really loud annoying Thai music and I would have felt 100 percent at home. Then the presence of all the tourists meant I heard accents from all over (British and New England or Canadian accents), and I heard languages from all over (Vietnamese, Hindi, and French--I'm guessing on the languages). But the best part was they sold food there that I wouldn't normally see in a grocery store. My favorite being Digestives from the UK. If you haven't had a Digestive (it sounds worse than it tastes), it is like a graham cracker but much much better; oh, and they sold Aerobars (mint chocolate with air bubbles in it).

I also stumbled across tamarind there. When I went to check out, the cashier said, "What is this?" I said, "tamarind". He said, "Is it a fruit or vegetable?" I said, "A fruit." He looked at his register, puzzled. So I spelled it out, it is spelled, "t-a-m-a-r-i-n-d". He typed it in but nothing came up. He handed me a chart with fruits and vegetable pictures on it and said, "Can you locate it on this chart?" (I felt like the tamarind was a suspect in a lineup.) I found the tamarind picture and showed it to him. Underneath the picture, it said, "tamarindo". I guess only Spanish speakers eat tamarind in Florida.

I had only gone into the Walmart to buy cake mix for a friend, but I walked out with a cart full of food. But now I know, if I ever crave British treats or tamarind I can make the long, 45 minute drive to Kissimmee.