Saturday, July 19, 2008

Helpful smiles in every aisle, even so far away

Mongolia delivers slices of home at the most random times.  Sometimes I feel it in the countryside when I take a deep breath of air that smells like an Iowa prairie.  Other times it's when someone I meet has ties to MIIS, Monterey or Iowa.

Today it came as I walked to my office in downtown Ulaanbaatar.  Crossing the street in front of me was a woman holding a plastic sack.  The sack was an honest-to-goodness plastic sack from Hy-Vee.  I realize how nerdy this is, but I stopped on the sidewalk to savor the moment. In Mongolia, I'm experiencing the first bit of Hy-Vee I've had in almost eight months.  I should say here that I really really love Hy-Vee, and its importance in my youth and development through the years cannot be overstated.  

There it is.  More proof that it's a small world after all.

2 comments:

GC said...

There's a Kum and Go in Washington!!!! Obviously, not as far away as Mongolia. But still a funny export.

Did you ask her where the bag came from?

Molly said...

I didn't, but really wish I would have. I think I was too stunned and flooded with a lifetime of HyVee memories. Do the locals in Washington think that Kum and Go is an absurd name like most non-Iowans?