I bet you ain't never had no Mint Mischief potato chips

So I'm observing that one of the fun - and exhausting - things about living in a foreign country is that even normal daily things like going to the grocery store are completely new and exciting. After a day and a half of Clif bars and one pricey restaurant meal, I ventured into an Indian grocery store called Spencer's. One of my flatmates, an Indian, told me that I should either have groceries delivered (which all the stores do) or ask the housekeeper, Clara, to pick them up, but before I can do that I had to figure out what my options are. Here's what I got.

• Two packages of these amazing fresh flatbread things. Tortillas are the closest thing that come to mind, but they're thicker and a tiny bit greasy.
• Some dried and salted broad beans
• Basmati rice
• Green beans
• A papaya (I had to ask an Indian woman how to choose a good papaya. She got me a good one, but she didn't speak English so I still don't know how she picked it.)
• A bunch of these crazy tiny bananas
• Potatoes
• A pomegranate
• Some ginger / garlic paste
• The aforementioned Mint Mischief potato chips
• Gouda cheese (Oh yeah, it won't really work to not eat dairy here. Plus, it's not an ethical consideration because cows are treated so well. And there's no soy - sadness! - so I would probably waste away without the protein. Weird, but okay.)
• Onions

The bill came to Rs. 422.13, or about 11 dollars.

What else? I guess I didn't write this yesterday, but by the end of the day yesterday I was so sick to death of being stared at. I know I stand out appearance-wise and I was expecting it to some degree, but still. Today was better though, and I had some fun exchanges with strangers. The book vendor laughed when I asked him how I should have bargained with him (instead of paying list price). Maybe next time I'll actually do so. I also walked a little farther than I did yesterday to some pretty big and commercial streets a couple kilometers from my apartment. I'm starting to get why people call Bangalore cosmopolitan. You really can see every kind of person here - it's pretty great. I haven't yet gotten up the nerve to take out my camera very much (as I'm conspicuous enough as it is), but I will one of these days. I want to try and show you all what this city looks like. It's pretty amazing.