I was slowly getting a hang of the new surrounding around me. Shopping forms an important chore in a life of each person here. There are deals, exciting deals, good deals and sales to be found everywhere. Then there are coupons and shop cards. For Example a store like “Acme” where you but things like fruits, milk and other stuff has a free membership card which you get free. Some discounts are available when one uses that card. So apart from a credit card, such store membership cards are also some of the prized possessions one can have in USA. Coupons are discount vouchers printed in local papers. One can cut those vouchers from news papers and other magazines and use while shopping, at gas stations or even doing a oil change for your car. Then one also waits for a particular sale to but certain products. Usually one can buy good winter clothes in early spring sales when those giant stores are dumping their winter inventory. Electronic sales are good after thanks giving and Christmas. Most families buy their Christmas gifts for next season in after Christmas sales. A pro at shopping can tell you what to shop from which store. For daily household items go to store named “COSTCO”. Costco is a store specializing in selling goods at affordable rates. Things that one needs like oil, bath rolls, detergents etc can be easily purchased here at this store in bulk. So Costco is considered a family store. Similar names are recommended in case you ask for furniture, books, toys etc.
So I kept learning from experience and from what other people bought. Then there are garage sales and moving sales. Garage sales are second sales of old items arranged by a single or more than one household. You can get dirt cheap furniture and other decorations from garage sales as people want to throw away the old stuff and buy new each spring. Moving sale is a sale put up by a moving family. It is a pain to move things from one place to another and expensive too. So many families sell their stuff before moving. I got good deals on such sales.
The other unique thing I saw here are coffee shops. Starbucks, Dunkin donuts, Wawa are just a few coffee places I have seen so far. The coffee can be bitter to more gentle in these shops. Visiting these places I wondered if people here made coffee at home or not. Coffee and muffins are popular breakfast items. I liked the Dunkin donuts coffee the best among these. And I am big fan of the donuts at Dunkin Donuts. What amuses me is that I have not been to any Dunkin Donut which is not owned by an Indian. Surprisingly, many Dunkin Donuts are owned and run by Indian families and they are very successful at running this chain of coffee shops all over USA. So it not a big surprise that I like both the coffee and donuts at Dunkin Donuts. Donuts are like pastries available in India but are normally round in shape and generally with a hole in center. Donuts come in million flavors. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, glazed, filled with jellies and many other varieties.
The other cheap eating places are of course MacDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bells. But I am partial to burger kings as they have vegetarian sandwich. Also I like Taco bells a lot. The seven layered bean burrito and chalupa are the only thing that can compare to an Indian tastes. Let me warn you that all the names I mentioned above are considered very unhealthy in USA especially the Taco bells is considered worst and poor persons meal. I keep wondering how the boiled beans and rice served in a wheat wrap be so bad. But that is not the point; I am just saying I love eating the taco. Being a vegetarian cannot comment on the non vegetarian stuff that one get on these places. Also I have not tasted beer or wines so I cannot comment on that subject too. I also liked the Mexican, Thai and Italian places I visited.
Indian grocery store are important to me as I can get every item I think about there. Indian who came to USA before me say in 80’s and early 90’s say that the availability of Indian items like vegetables, lentils, seasoning has vastly improved over the period of time. So I am lucky that I can get all vegetables and dals(lentils) that I want here at those store. Once you step inside a tiny Indian store, you enter a mini India. Most buyers and owner are Indian .one can talk in Hindi and ask for an item in Hindi. And for those moments one forgets that we are thousands of miles from India.
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