Officially set to go for my program this summer. Today was the last day my parents were here with me and we finalized everything this morning and moved the last items in and set out this morning for food.
I was worried at first if I would have access to a decent market and how I would either bring or find deliveries for produce here in Tempe, but my worries were relieved when I found the awesome Sunflower Market here in town. I thought it would just be a little produce market, but it totally blew me away!
It basically combines all the good things of a standalone produce market, a Whole Foods, a Trader Joes, and a regular supermarket. With INSANELY CHEAP prices on great fruit as well as speciality products, natural health and beauty aids, and packaged goods for any taste, Sunflower Market was a godsend.
Also what's great is that it is on the route for the free buses around Tempe called Orbits. Orbit Jupiter has that shopping center on its route so I'll be able to go there easily a few times a week as need be. I couldn't get over how great the prices particularly on peaches, nectarines, mangos, lettuce, berries, grapes, oranges, etc. were.
Half the price of Whole Foods, more selection than Trader Joes, more organics and interesting items than regular supermarkets, and cleaner and nicer than a produce market. Why aren't these everywhere?! Any family or any person with any diet could shop here. Sorry, I just get so excited...
After that today was just basically about further getting acclimated around the campus and seeing who was here in terms of the CLI program. Pretty quiet around ASU so easy to maneuver and explore safely. Went to the library today to look around and also explored the student union to get some work and emails done (euro paper in the bag!).
Here are some photos from today:
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| $2.99 for ORGANIC grapes! Half the price of regular sometimes! |
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| Do my eyes deceive me?! $1.88/lb for all stonefruit, and ripe |
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| Extensive natural product section exceeding even Whole Foods |
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| Out by the student union finishing my paper, nice day |
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| In the ASU library. Probably the only one to enter the Turkic language section in years ;) |
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| My desk: Sun card, Uzbek textbook, computer, key, map |
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| ASU Hayden library at sunset |
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| Snack of fresh tamarind. So addicted to this stuff now! |
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| The good ol' fruit stash :) Yes, I'm crazy |
Last but not least, here is a goofy little tour of my dorm. Sorry for the weird camera angle, made it on my iPhone. Check it out if you like :)
Overall today was another great day and I am really excited for this independent, fun, education, social, and unique opportunity. Thank you again to mom and dad for all your support! I'll let you know how the first day of classes and orientation goes!
Xayr,
Brian
How do you say "your fruit stash is amazing" in Uzbek? I love the blog--you'll have to update us on how you manage to keep bananas from ripening too fast in this climate!
ReplyDeleteHaha thanks for checking out my blog Skaidra, appreciate your kind words. Got the ripening down to a science now :-) Fortunately with the air conditioning it hasn't been a problem. Also with the peaches I'm just rotating the ripe ones out of the box for the bottom shelf to eat. I go through quite a bit :-) See you tomorrow in class.
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