I did it, I did it, I finally did it! I am so proud. I walked down the street, through the gate and right out of the colony to the world outside. The world went right on hustling and bustling around us. While we weren’t greeted with any friendliness (except by the guard at our gate), we weren’t greeted with any outright contempt either. We were pretty much ignored except for the occasional stare. 

The little vegetable shop is about a half a block from our gate. Bin after bin of vegetables greeted us in this tiny, musty-smelling stall. Most of them were familiar, but a few were not. I will have to do some research to find out what exactly those strange fruits and vegetables are and what I can make with them. Addie chose apples and Ender chose a watermelon (of course). I chose carrots, potatoes, onions and cauliflower to make a creamy soup with. The whole thing cost me 159 rupees or $3.75. Don’t know if that was a good price or if the man behind the counter took advantage of my ignorance, but I got my food and I am happy.The kids dug into the apples and watermelon right away. After so many noodles they were glad to have something healthy for once. I washed them to the best of my ability with filtered water (and dish soap on the outside in the case of the watermelon) and hoped for the best. So far no one is sick, so let’s hope it stays that way. 

The vegetables were cut into pieces and the soup smells wonderful! We are going to eat it in a little while. Before I cut anything up, though, I snapped the above picture. Sudakker came in at that exact moment and stood watching me take the picture. I was embarrassed and tried to explain, but then gave up and let him go off thinking I was insane. I’m sure he already thinks I’m quite bizzare at this point, so me taking pictures of vegetables should not have surprised him.