where the love is

i almost died and went to heaven on monday when i find myself at the entrance of the mercato on via vittorio emanuelle II near cavour. everything an asian might need to produce a faithfully asian dish. everything. from the right kind of chillies to squid sauce that sizzles to beehoon to suitably fresh ikan aya/tongkol/tuna suitable for singgang and halal beef - and all at a much more prefered price.

sure the budu was not from terengganu. but close enough - a bottle of budu-coloured sauce made of fermented anchovies in the philippines. sure the guy saying 'apa khabar' was not a malaysian. but close enough - a bangladeshi who worked for 4 years at a construction site in ampang. outside, there are numerous shops operated by chinese, taiwanese and koreans ( i cant tell the difference!) selling everything from warm clothing to shoes to maggie mee to santan liquid and powder.

we stopped at a bangladeshi stall selling fish and went home with 6 pieces of salmon (E6.50 per kg) and 1 kg of thai squid (because i am a malaysian demanding for a malaysian price, E5.00, down from E7.00). and various veggies for E1.70 - so much less than what i have been paying at the supermarket down the road.

we walked a little more to absorb the friendliness of the market, we arrived at a stall operated by a philippino girl. she came to rome for a holiday 4 years ago, fell in love with the city and has been here ever since. i asked her how is rome for a straniera.

"i love the city, but rome is not kind to foreigners. here we are treated like second class citizen. why? when we contribute to the economy," she said with feelings. i felt a little guilty at the way malaysians sometimes treat foreign workers in our country - not much difference from the romans.

i was reminded of the landlady of a room i was thinking to rent on via urbana. when asked about the mercato which we heard was a good deal, she said, "i only shop in the shop downstairs. i dont go to the mercato on the other side. when i am driving there, i have this fear that someone would stop me and ask for something. it is not real this fear but it is in my head. so i dont go there. but there are more police there these days, so it is better."

after another gander around the market, we quickly went home and had a pan-seared salmon with potatoes. after weeks of being denied the taste of home, i was (almost) in heaven with happiness. i hope i made some friends - i definitely want this to be my once a week shopping destination and a (bigger) discount is surely appreciated!

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