"SweetbananaonlyonedollabuynowandIgiveyoutwofoonedolla"

I, the girl who grew up in the suburbs, likes to get my clothes from shopping malls and my groceries from grocery stores, have successfully ventured out of my comfort zone. I stepped into Paddy's Market all by my little lonesome. Let me try and paint a picture of this place for you. For one, I have to walk through China Town to get to it. It's a tiny street packed with Chinese restaurants and bakeries, and lots of people crammed next to each other, feeling no need to say "excuse me." Market City is the building that it lies in, and it's a huge brick building with a big mall on top of it. But, it's the basement where the deals are. Paddy's Market is the place to get your souvenirs and cheap groceries, but be prepared to haggle, push and shove, and see a whole chicken being beheaded.

I'm trying to save all my money so I can go travelling, thus I was looking ways to save money on groceries. Everything costs more in Sydney, from the chocolate bars to the tomatoes, be willing to shell out the big bucks. At Coles (or Wooly's) I usually pay about $1.10 PER apple... about $1 US. So, I ventured down into the basement of Market City, to find stall after stall of fresh veggies and fruit, ready for me to take them home.

I walked the perimeter of the area first, taking it all in. The countless number of asian people, young and old, pushing there way to the front to buy the next few day's veggies. Everyone came prepared with their own shopping bags, and there I stood with my bright pink leather purse, obviously looking like a newbie. People are shouting at each other, trying to get you to buy their veggies and fruit over the next stand (hence the title of this... that's exactly what it sounds like). I see a sign: Avocadoes $1.50 each. What?? They are about $3 each in the grocery store. I pounce on this, buying myself a nice ripe avocado (Flash forward 2 hours, and it was absolutely delish!). My next buy was an eggplant, then on to the tomatoes... I then ventured to a nut stand and bought some fresh oats and Cous Cous. I spent $7.50 on what would've cost me about $15 in the store.

After I had purchased my items, for giggles, I decided to venture into the fresh meat section. Now, I'm a girl who buys my meat from the meat section in the grocery store. Sure, sometimes I walk up the meat counter and ask for a pound of hamburger, or one chicken breast, but I have never experienced this. There are fish heads, whole crabs, thousands of shrimp with eyes still bulging, fresh pink salmon, and a chicken in the process of being butchered. The open air meat market was both intriguing and disgusting at the same time. The floors were dirty, I saw people handling money AND then touching meat. But, I realize people come here on a daily basis, living off cheap (and good) food. I had to push a little bit of my suburban girl out of me and accept that it was just as sanitary as the local Coles (or Kroger, HyVee, etc back home).

I plan on going back tomorrow to shop for a couple more days, as I was much to overwhelmed to shop past today. I will definitely be stopping here more often. I'm just sad it took me so long to get up the courage to go.

Love,
Michaela