as much as my roommate taught me about central asia yesterday, today was my turn to show him the sights of lovely somerville. this is what i love to do, because i end up experiencing everything like it was new again. our first stop was to market basket, where my roommate experienced firsthand the sensory overload of discount grocery shopping and the kaleidoscope of ethnicities. i caught him people watching discreetly, admiring all the shapes and colors of the local somerville tapestry of immigrants and natives. we went down aisle by aisle, as i explained what everything was used for. he couldn't believe all the different tomato sauces, or the selection of salad dressing. i could sense he was doing a lot of mental calculations, figuring out what prices were in renminbi (chinese currency), but after a while he just gave up, food here in the US will be expensive no matter how you figure it out, but at least here at market basket you were definitely getting the best deals. he ended up buying a rotisserie chicken, a head of cabbage, and a few boxes of thin noodles. i put all his stuff in my backpack while he was in charge of carrying a loaf of bread by hand.

from there we went to the fluff festival that was happening at union square. i was surprised to bump into so many people i knew, from brice, to andrea and erin and mark. there was a big crowd, but with my tour guide duty and the drizzling rain, it made for a difficult photography experience so i only took a few photos (i had much better luck when i went last year) - i didn't even get to see the flufferettes! - which was my main reason for going in the first place.

coming back, we visited the korean grocery store and a nearby liquor store. the rain had stopped but it was still unseasonably humid. my roommate said walking down somerville avenue felt like back in his childhood home, wide streets with very few people. as soon as we got back, i left again, this time to belmont for dinner.