Day: March 2, 2015

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¡Asqueroso!

Except for some stale tortillas, fruit, and cheese, I was completely out of food, so I ran to the City Deli a short while ago to pick up a few things to tide me over till I go to Soriana on Thursday (with possibly a trip to Miguel’s tomorrow).

The older lady was working the deli counter, so I asked for 20 pesos of bacon. I’ve tried many brands of bacon and their brand, Chimex, is by far the best but I can only find it in small quantities at Ley and Soriana, where it is more expensive per kilo than buying it from the City Deli!

No sooner had she parceled it out that I noticed MOULD on the bacon. Mould! I couldn’t believe it! She smelled the package, winced, and threw it aside, then opened up a fresh one. She said that that was strange and they were having trouble with their cheese, too.

Well, there was the window of opportunity I was looking for. I replied that the other girl who works there doesn’t wear a bag over her hand when handling the food and that I’ve come home with mouldy cheese, hence why I don’t buy it there anymore. There was probably some contamination.

The lady burst out with ¡Asqueroso!, which I now know means disgusting! She said she would talk to her boss about it and immediately went to the back, coming out with him. He chose his words carefully and said to me, “You mean the girl who is not nice to you?” and I replied in the affirmative. He said he will deal with her.

Uh-oh. I really hope I didn’t get someone fired, but at the same time, she should not be handling food! That she’s very likely causing waste in addition to being unsanitary and rude to the customers doesn’t bode well for her, though.

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Monday Ride

Mondays are usually my quiet day, so I was happy when riding day changed to it. However, I am having an INSANE Monday! I’m working on a standby project for which I need to be chained to my desk in order to start files immediately when I receive them in order to send them back as fast as humanly possible.

Thankfully, a time zone difference meant that the riding block could still be accommodated, so I got some much needed social time and exercising.

At one point, Janet commented that my English was a bit strained and that I was searching for words. I’ve been doing a lot of transcripts lately from non-English speakers and was working with Hebrew this morning, so I’m finding English to be rather muddled today! My Spanish was in fine form, though, and I chatted at length with our guide about my work and home back in Canada. The informal language lessons are a real bonus!

Unfortunately, the ride wasn’t so great. I rode Diamante again and he was just not there today. He would occasionally stumble, try to trip the other horses, buck, and just stop randomly. I cantered a few times, but he wasn’t in the mood and the rides were not smooth to the point where I was worried about falling off. I requested a different horse for next week and will get one.

It was still a pleasant couple of hours, though! The beach was gorgeous and we did a brief spell through a coconut grove. What a life!