A Life Changing Experience

So, yesterday was just your typical Friday. I went to school, came home, had lunch.... and then my life changed.

My birthday is this weekend, so we're having a little party at my house today. That, of course, involves grocery shopping in a major way. I'm not sure whether or not I've shared the whole grocery shopping process with you or not... but it involves a bus ride to Mercadona, and a long and laborious trip back home, loaded down with bags and bags of groceries. I'm sure we look like fools when we do this... and we do this rather often.

When grocery shopping this way, we usually have to think about things in the following manner: 1. how heavy is it? 2. do I really need it? 3. can I carry it back without squishing it?  -- and this next problem could inspire a whole new topic of conversation -- but, 4. will it fit in the refrigerator? Aside from these trips to Mercadona, smaller, supplemental shopping trips are often required during the week. Things like juice, milk, and bottles of Coke Light don't make the cut at the grocery store. They are way too heavy to carry along with the rest of the groceries. It's much easier to carry them home from a chino, or from the little grocery store that we have here in el casco.

Our big shopping trips usually happen about once a week. We can only carry about a week's worth of groceries while simultaneously ensuring that our limbs don't completely lose circulation and that we don't pull anything serious.

But yesterday, that all changed.

Knowing that I would have to buy lots of food and several bottles of beverages for this party, Bailey and I decided yesterday to just eat the cost of having our groceries shipped to our house. Yes. That has always been an option. For €4,21 you can have all of your goods brought straight to your home. And no, we had never done it before yesterday.

Between the two of us, we went to Mercadona, got a normal size shopping cart, overloaded it with every heavy object you could imagine -- bottles, cans, boxes of milk, etc. And then we went to the check out line. There was no strategic bag-packing, everything just went back into the cart... and after we had paid, we walked out of there with only 1 bag each, carrying the essential items that we wanted to have right then. We walked back to the bus stop, and headed home without being weighed down by our purchases. Though I have to be honest, it did feel like I was leaving the store, never to see those groceries again.

Until 2 hours later. We got a ring at the doorbell. It was Mercadona! And here they came, with the craziest little invention of a dolly that climbs stairs. With ALL of the food loaded onto it. The man came in, carried our groceries TO THE KITCHEN, and in 5 minutes, was on his way back to Mercadona.

WHAT? IT COULD HAVE BEEN THAT EASY THIS WHOLE TIME????

I only have a few weeks left here now... and in about 2 weeks, I won't have Bailey around to share the delivery cost with me anymore... but wow. My life has been revolutionized. I might still spring for the delivery... it makes life so much less complicated.

I'm going to have to say...
America, I think Spain wins in the grocery delivery department. Until yesterday, I hated grocery shopping here... but now... wow. I can't imagine anything being more easy! (Let's just hope this doesn't mean bigger grocery bills!)