Shopping all over

I'm tired, so this will be a lazy post. I spent all day today at the Akmerkez mall which is huge. I went there, by tram and then bus, because I heard they had wee-wee pads at the pet store and I haven't been able to find them in any of the neighborhood pet stores so far. They did have them, but they were expensive so I will have to do the math and see if it is cheaper to have them shipped from the US or buy them here.

I walked the ENTIRE mall because I didn't want to miss anything. There are several big malls here so I'm trying to get a sense of which ones I may want to go back to. This one was four floors, the top one entirely devoted to a movie theater and restaurants which included KFC, Burger King, Schotzky's Deli, and many Turkish fast food and cafe style places. Also a large Starbucks and Cafe Dunyasi which is a cheaper Starbucks competitor I have yet to try. There were many Turkish shops but also some I recognized such as New Balance, Tommy Hilfiger, Camper, Zara, and Marks and Spencer. There were some very cool home stores where I showed enormous restraint, and something called Microcenter which reminded me of Whole Foods. They had prepared food and packaged food and also a decent supply of housewares where I picked up a vegetable peeler and bottle opener since I had to open my mineral water last night by banging it on the edge of the counter which resulted in a nice mineral water bath for my floor.

Yesterday I wandered through the outdoor markets around the Spice Bazaar a bit and bought a few small kitchen items, but I just didn't have the patience to dig and find what I wanted in that maze and I don't like bargaining. I just want to go to Ikea and be done with it for all the little household crap I need. If I just needed one or two things it would be a different story. I did finally buy some food-- there are great fruits and veggies and dry goods, so that problem is solved, and I found the place in the Spice Bazaar that sells scented oils which are nice after the bath and instead of perfumes, so I got my girlie fix.

My most successful and productive trip was to my neighborhood Dia. These little stores are everywhere and are like a cross between a small grocery store and the bodegas in New York. Here is what I bought there for the equivalent of $27.87

Olive oil
8 resealable plastic containers (see post "A bad thing")
2 bars of Dove soap
Yogurt
6 bottles of mineral water
3 pairs of socks
White lycra tank top (been looking everywhere for one!)
Sugar
Salt
Bath gel
3 toothbrushes (forgot I packed 3. Oh well)
Pasta

Dia is great because you never know what they will have, other than the food basics. Witness the tank top. Of course, you can't count on them having what you want either, I still don't have dish towels. Maybe tomorrow.