Turbulence

So, I've finally reached a breaking point with the food situation here in the dormitory. I went grocery shopping, bought a variety of things such as veggies, fruits, eggs, cheeses, etc, found some space in the refrigerator in the kitchen, packed all of the perishables nicely and neatly in an opaque bag, and hoped for the best.

Things were actually going pretty well after that. I was able to keep my foods cool and fresh, and no one had peeked into the bag to rummage. I was happy because I was being fed on a regular basis with foods that I approved of for health value.

Then the unthinkable happened.

It was a Tuesday, and I'd had a pretty full day, and it wasn't over yet because I was planning on going to the pool, and then I was going to do some preparations for my English class the next night. I got on the bus at 5:16pm, knowing that I only had a certain amount of time to get home, get changed, and get my stuff together before I had to be on the bus to the pool at 7:05. I walk in my door at around 5:45, throw my stuff on the bed, and head to the kitchen to make myself something quick to eat before I work out. The minute I open up the fridge, I know something is wrong.

My bag was open, and some of the contents were carelessly laying on top of it. I took a deep breath and began to inspect the damage. Oh, and was there damage. Severe damage.

Someone had decided that they wanted to use my eggs for one of their concoctions. I had 6. They took 2. HOWEVER. Instead of neatly putting them back afterwards, which would have been the LEAST they could do since they were STEALING from me, they shoved the eggs on top of the my other food, thus BREAKING 3 of the remaining 4, spilling egg all over my other grocery products. This includes spinach, two blocks of cheese, yogurt, cucumber, and a container of curry paste, plus some other things. Guess how many of those I had to toss due to the potential for food-borne illness? Almost all of it.

The cheese, which had formerly been on the top of the pile of food (my father taught me how to sort and pack groceries a long time ago...it's something that stuck with me) had been put on the bottom, so that the two foil-wrapped blocks were smushed and exposed, leaving me no choice but to dispose of them, the yogurt containers were dented and manhandled (but thankfully still sealed), had to toss the spinach and cucumber because they had been marinating in egg white for God knows how long...and I'm going to stop there for fear that my wrath might return.

I then shouted some choice expletives and began my work. I had to wash everything, throw the bag away (which was a perfectly good bag that I had used on many occasions because it was one of the ones that you buy the first time that you go to the grocery store, and can use every time afterward), and repack everything somehow in a different bag, and put it to the mercy of the "refrigerator" outside of my window. God forbid it start to rain. The main point of my anger was not that someone had taken 2 eggs from me. Ok. I really prefer they would have asked, but 2 eggs out of all the groceries I had in there isn't the biggest problem. The problem was their disregard for the fact that the rest of the food in there was meant for my consumption at some point. If you're going to steal from someone, DON'T MAKE IT OBVIOUS, and DON'T DESTROY THE REST OF THE MERCHANDISE. I am not paid enough to have to rebuy groceries. I am poor. Very. Very. Poor. Food is incredibly expensive here compared to most places. It is easy to drop 600+Sk on the basics. Please do not make it more difficult for me to try and afford to feed myself.

After repacking everything, and realizing that I now only had 15 minutes to get dressed, pack all of my swim gear, and grab something to eat before leaving, I was pretty livid. My time during the week is precious. I am busy. There are things that I need to accomplish during the week that allow me to stay sane until the weekend. They were trying to take this from me, and I was in no mood to stay quiet and take it. I grabbed a scrap piece of paper and began writing. The note I drafted was stern, but to the point, and only included one swear word (I was really proud of myself for that) I was essentially trying to appeal to the better nature of those people that I am forced to live with, asking them to please respect other people's property and to attempt to make the living situation more bearable. Then I taped it to the fridge. I don't know how many people saw it, but 2 days later it was gone. I don't know if another student tore it down, or if the maintenance woman who mops the floor took it down. Either way, I don't know if it made a difference, but at least I was able to get it off my chest.

I'm looking into mini-refrigerators as we speak.