Stale Chocolate
La Chica couldn’t fit all her stuff on the plane when she headed back to college after her semester in Mexico, so we were supposed to pack up a few last items.  And then I recalled her saying that she can’t get “good” chocolate on campus.  So I thought I’d stick some in the mailing tube with the posters.  I had the posters all packed, prepared myself with a plastic zipper-type bag and stopped for the chocolate on the way to the post office. The chocolate bars did not fit in the mailing tube, so I tried to crack them down the middle, but then they didn’t fit in the baggie.  (Yeah, I only brought one with me.)  So I broke the bars up even more, stuffed it all in, threw away the wrappers, and sent it off 2-day delivery.  And didn’t hear all week.  So I asked if she’d opened the tube before leaving it on the heater for the week and her answer still makes me laugh:Â
I can’t believe I didn’t call and say thank you!  It was actually way funny — I got the poster roll and was sitting on my bed, and S-A [roommate] was on hers, and I open it and I go “Hmm.  This smells kind of funny…”  And I keep sniffing it.  And S-A is like “Well, what’s it smell like?”  And I sniff again and say “Hm.  Stale chocolate…”  And I’m thinking to myself “Now, did Mom package this while she was in the cupboard, or what?!”  And S-A goes “Well, is there chocolate in it?”  Which just wasn’t a thought which had crossed my mind.  And so then I turn over the tube and out falls some chocolate. Â
I gather it didn’t wreck the posters, and she did enjoy eating it.  So that’s good. Â
Jennifer
Too funny! The nose knows … But why “stale” … ?
Now that we know that La Chica esta regresada a nuestra pais, though, perhaps — once she’s settled back into college life — she could post an update on the rest of her travels, because the peripherals amongst us know only what we read on the blog …
Comment by el kib — February 17, 2009 @ 2:08 pm
Stale, I imagine, because the mailing tube had been in a closet for … 20 years?
I’m not sure about the probability of a post, but a post is very unlikely to be accompanied by photos, because her camera disappeared (was stolen?) right AFTER all opportunities to take photos were concluded and right BEFORE we were going to bring it home–it wasn’t working right and no one had downloaded photos.
Comment by Jenn — February 17, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
Hilarious! Too bad La Chica can’t get “good” chocolate on campus, because Mexico has excellent chocolate beans. (I have a fine 70% chocolate bar made from Mexican cacao beans, given to me by Mrs R on Valentine’s day.) Either the Mexican chocolate must all be exported, or the campus neighborhood has poorly-stocked stores.
Comment by rakkity — February 17, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
She did have good chocolate in Mexico. But she’s back in Ohio. The chocolate comment originally came up during the car discussions: she wasn’t able to wrest the 3rd family car away from her sibling when she went back to Ohio this time, because said sibling potentially needed it for a job, which was deemed (by both of them) more important than La Chica’s ability to leave campus to get prefered brands of chocolate (and shampoo). I think La Chica knew that if the sibling didn’t find and keep a decent job, the ability of the parental units to fund much of anything interesting for La Chica is seriously compromised.
PS Said sibling has found a not-particularly-good, and only part-time job, and has kept it for several weeks now! And has a more appropriate job in the wings. But gender may be an issue. (The HR person needed to see the diploma, and it is in a different name and gender than the license and rest of the application.) I’ll continue to keep y’all posted, somewhat obscurely, for perhaps obvious reasons.
Comment by Jenn — February 17, 2009 @ 5:22 pm
Such gender issues should never arise in a perfect world. But even in this imperfect world, gender discrimination is illegal. That being said, using the law to force the issue is no fun at all. Sigh…
Comment by rakkity — February 17, 2009 @ 7:05 pm