Grocery Shopping

People around here go grocery shopping at least once or twice daily. Most people walk or bike everywhere, so stocking up on groceries or buying in bulk is not possible. The grocery store near us does not even have grocery carts because there really is no need for them. Everything you are going to buy has to fit in a blue handbasket or you won't have a way to get it home!

The stores are very crowded, especially at 5pm when you sometimes have to wait your turn to get a handbasket. People seem very rushed and impatient. They know what they want and need and get impatient with those who stop to read labels!

Everyone brings their own bags for their groceries -mostly backpacks and cloth tote bags because these are what fit on their bikes the best. If you do show up at the store without a bag you can buy a plastic one for sixteen Euro cents! Is it just me or is that pretty expensive?

Shopping in a foreign grocery store without knowing the language is a bit rough. I rely on pictures a lot. Product placement is another big issue. I mean, you wouldn't pick up a jar of white powder in the aisle with the laundry soap and expect it to be coffee creamer, right? I have made a few mistakes though.....

The first mistake was with pancakes. Journey really wanted to buy these cute little packaged pancakes the size of silver dollars. We grabbed a package and went in search of the syrup. Imagine his surprise when he stuffed his mouth with a big forkful of pancakes topped with molasses! It looked the same color and was in the baking section!! LOL! I later found out that the people here eat their pancakes topped with powdered sugar!

Another issue was with the pre-packaged "apples". I thought it was neat that these apple pieces came cut in all different shapes and sizes - small balls, bigger balls, slices, etc. I knew that the word for apple was appel and that the word for orange was sinasappel. I didn't think about the fact that this package said it conatined arrdappels. I bought a package for the kids to nibble on as a treat. They were quite surprised when they chomped on a piece of potato! So I ended up frying them in a little butter and we ate them with ketchup. They were actually pretty good and I will probably buy more.

The third mistake was tonight. I bought a package of the pre-cooked cubed meat to mix with some vegetables. Journey wanted a few chunks of it when he saw me open the package so I put a few pieces on a plate for him. He said it didn't taste right. Justice tried it and said it wasn't chicken. I tried it and realized it was some sort of pork fat! Seriously, these were big chunks of lard! They do eat a lot of fatty pork products here and I've heard that the sausages are very fatty, but I never expected a full package of fat! And this was in the section of chopped meats for use on salads and on brodjkes.

And another incident happened this evening. I took a shower and washed my hair (used shampoo and conditioner). I found this bottle of hair gel that was left here and decided to use it since my hair is so frizzy in the humidity. The bottle was labeled as Douche Gel and stuff inside was clear. After I rubbed some in my hair and it formed a lather I realized that "douche" means shower!! Justice was nice enough to rinse my hair over the bath tub so I didn't have to get undressed and back in the shower again.

I'm sure there will be more mistakes - nothing too detrimental so far though!