What I Will Miss and What I Won't Take 4

I decided today at the grocery store that I will not miss the little men in the parking lot.  Now some of them are rather cute little old men, and there are even some super sweet ones.  However, something about the fact that I am expected to pay them for doing nothing just irritates me!  I have tried to get on board culturally and tip these cute little men, but something in me will just not allow me to happily do it!  Now, if I am in a tight spot and one of them comes over and helps me get out- I am more than willing to hand over a few coins!  No problem!  But when I purposely park in a space where there are no cars anywhere near me and I am trying to pull out of my spot- I do not need any help.  Him standing out in the middle of the parking lot and motioning for which way I need to turn my wheels just bugs me.  I have tried not to take it personally, but to me, it just screams- "let me help you because you don't know what you are doing".  And when I am pulling out of an uncrowded grocery store parking lot with no cars on either side of me and no cars coming in any direction- I feel pretty comfortable in my capability to do it on my own!  And paying someone to move their hand back and forth just doesn't make any sense to me.  Although I guess really it is not as bad as paying someone to "watch my car" while I go in somewhere.  That basically translates into "I will not steal anything out of your car while you are gone and I will do my best not to let anyone else steal anything out of your car while you are gone if you give me some coins when you get back!"  I have really tried in most aspects of my life to adapt to the culture around me (as long as it is within the realms of my being a Christian), but there are times when I have drawn the line.  And the poor little guy at the grocery store gets the brunt of this line drawing.  And I feel a little bad about that.  After all- he is just trying to do his "job".  But little hand waving men at the grocery store- I will not miss you much. 

After my trip to the grocery store this morning, I came home with a great lunch of chicken milanesa, pasta with cream sauce and a cold broccoli and cauliflower salad. As I was eating it, it hit me that I am going to miss chicken milanesa!  Chicken milanesa is a traditional Paraguayan dish consisting of a flat piece of breaded chicken.  It is similar to our version of chicken fried steak.  And if you get a good one- it is really yummy!  I remember when we first moved here and I was craving chicken strips because I had not aquired a taste for milanesa. But, after 7 1/2 years, I am proud to say that I will probably be craving milanesa on the other side!  There- I AM adaptable to things that make sense to me!  And good food generally makes sense to me.