My European Invasion: The Limitations of Being Under 21

October 9, 2011

Had a lovely skype conversation with my dear friend, Cecilia, and it looks like I will be spending Christmas in Sweden! Now I just need to find a good deal on tickets.

Once I was finished with my run within Riverside Park, Sami and I went off to IKEA. After experiencing my first week of classes I decided it was about time to invest in a cutting board and cutlery so I could prepare dinners that do not come from a can. IKEA as usual was a zoo, wandering through the crowds I found a few other things like scissors and note pads for my numerous ‘to do’ lists. Standing in line at the register it was finally my turn. Everything was going swimmingly when suddenly the clerk asked to see my ID. I was a bit confused as to why I needed to have my ID checked when I wasn’t buying alcohol or any real dangerous item that I could see. He looked at it for a while a bit confused, since it was a Washington State driver’s license; when finally he told me that I could not buy the small kitchen knives since I was under 21. What on Earth?!?! Sure I could buy alcohol in this country, pretty much have access to anywhere in the city, but to purchase some kitchen cutlery so I could cook for myself was out of the question… this is really a backwards society in terms of purchasing knives! The scissors didn’t require me to be 21 either. None the less, it looked like my new cutting board was going to be lonely until December. Luckily Sami asked the clerk if she could buy them since she is 22. The clerk agreed, and Sami went to the back of the long line with my knives in hand. After I was done being checked-out, the clerk said it was alright if Sami went to the front of the line to get the knives. There! We finally purchased my knives and I reimbursed her for them, but no way was I going to complete the deal within IKEA. I felt like I was doing a drug deal or something, but over kitchen knives. I decided to get them from her later.

Wandering through another grocery store, ASDAS, we finished our grocery shopping for the day. Running to the bus stop we got there and the bus was sitting there, a guy in a similar situation as us had knocked on the door, but the driver continued to look straight ahead and then drove off without us. Well that’s a double decker bus driver for you! We waited another 15 minutes to catch the next bus heading to Wessex Lane. Once aboard on the 2^nd level, Sami and I completed our dirty deal and I finally was in possession of my kitchen knives.

Back in Montefiore D block, I put my new kitchenware to work and made my first decent meal of rice and broccoli with Mae Ploy sauce. My flat mates, Debbie and Iris, joined me in the kitchen and I was able to enjoy a little of Iris’s stir fry pasta (it was the spirally kind of noodles) and Debbie’s spinach curried lentils with a bread that is like naan bread that she made herself! I really need to learn how Debbie makes such scrumptious meals.