How are you?

As promised I walked to the store today. I do not believe I will do it again. It was so cold and windy I thought I would freeze to death. Half way there I thought about getting on the bus or calling a taxi for the way home.

I was okay out there for about three minutes. Then I turned the corner and the wind hit me! Andrea quickly fell asleep in the stroller so I tucked her away safely in her little confined warm spot for the rest of our little journey so at least she was safe. It took us about 15 minutes to get there and that was with me speed-walking.

There were lot of people out walking. Why? It is so cold out there, but yet I passed so many people on the sidewalk... none of which said a word to me, much less looked at me. On the way back I was frustrated with Denmark in general for various reasons: store was out of bread, groceries were too expensive, I dropped my apple bag, it was cold... Then a not helpful person put me over the edge.

After we left the grocery store I was trying to push Andrea and my dumb stroller up a steep walkway which led up to the sidewalk. Ten pounds of carrots and potatoes and eight liters of milk, along with all my other groceries make for a heavy load. Add a nice layer of ice to the non-salted path and you get me unable to make it up the hill without being pushed back down the hill by the stroller with Andrea and our groceries slipping off into the bushes on the side. It may have been funny if it wasn't so cold. It may have been funny if the dumb man would have offered some help instead of just sitting there.

Anyways, that's why I was frustrated for the way home. THEN I started passing people on the sidewalk. I couldn't stand just walking by all these people and not even saying Hi or smiling at them. When a person walks directly in front of you, you look at them... it's the natural thing to do! So I started saying "Hi" to people. I looked right at their cold faces and smiled and said, "Hi". I said "Good Morning", I said "Hey", and my personal favorite... I said "How's it going?", to the large group of older people at the bus stop." People don't understand why Americans say, "How are you?" when they greet a total stranger. (We do it to be nice. It's a habit. No, I may not really care how they are doing, BUT it's polite.)

Funny... I didn't say Hi to everyone to be nice. I was not feeling very nice, I was feeling freezing. I found myself thinking, "HA - Take that! I said Hi to you and you don't know me!" It was like a little point for me everytime.

I did make it home. I learned I need to wear a hat and buy a coat... some boots would be better than my sneakers too I guess. After I make some purchases perhaps I'll try that whole walking-to-the-store thing again. :)