Back home, I used to LOVE grocery shopping.  I would buy whatever my little heart desired; chicken, beef, ice cream, pies, condiments (oh do I ever love condiments), fruits, vegetables and cheese.  WHATEVER I WANTED.

Grocery shopping has now become the most depressing part of my life.  Yesterday as Rob, Nick and I wandered around one of the big chain grocery stores here in Istanbul a tear came to my eye.  Since we have not received a paycheque since we’ve arrived in Istanbul we have to stretch our money as far as possible.  We have been eating pasta for nearly every meal since it was about $3 for 5KG.  Every time one of us wanted something, we had to ask ourselves ‘will it go with pasta?’ and ‘is it dirt cheap?’  Before we hit the checkout counter we actually had to empty out the basket and split everything into two piles.  One pile of stuff that we actually needed and was reasonable and stuff that we would like to have but can do without.  I don’t think I’ve EVER done that in my entire life.

The cheese is SO expensive here.  When I finally get paid, I’m going to spend my entire paycheque on cheese and eat cheese until I go into a cheese coma.  On the bright side, they have these delicious cookies here called Tuktu that are super cheap.  Our diet so far has consisted of cookies and pasta; healthy(?) and nutritious(?)!

To my family and friends back home, I hope someone is willing to spend $75 to ship us a few boxes of mac n cheese.