Shopping adventures
I went on a shopping adventure today--grocery shopping, that is. I decided it's about time that I actually try to cook something instead of eating out all the time, mooching dinner off my floormates, or simply not eating. There's a grocery store right by my dorm, but it's on the smaller side. I wanted to go to Kaufland instead. Kaufland is like your typical Meijer(s) or Walmart (Time for the never ending argument about whether it's Meijer or Meijers. On the store, it's written Meijer, I believe. But actually, I heard the argument once that it's Meijer's, with an apostrophe. Meijer is a name. It's like if you were visiting me, you'd say you were going to Sara's. So I don't know...)
I rode the bus to Kaufland without getting lost--quite an accomplishment since I even switched routes along the way. But as soon as I entered, I faced my first shopping challenge: getting a cart. They were all stacked together in one of those rows, you know what I'm talking about, like normal. But each had a small chain connected to the next cart. I didn't know how to unlock it. I stood there stupidly for a while. Finally, someone was kind enough to help me. His English was terrible, but I got that the idea was to insert a one-euro coin into a slot on the handle which unlatched the chain; then, when you were done with the cart, you could hook the chain back up and your euro would pop out. I tell you, everything's so complicated in Europe.
Equipped with my shopping cart, I decided to brave the first aisle. I didn't know exactly what I was going to buy, just stuff that looked easy to cook. I got some bread, lunch meat, cheese, a frozen pizza. I bought some eggs; they were all brown, not white, which threw me off a little. I made the novice mistake of walking down the candy aisle; and it was around 6:00 when I went shopping, so I was hungry. I left that aisle with some Twix, Gummi Bears, Nestle white crunch, etc. And, of course, I bought the European classic, Nutella. I also got pasta and some sauce. I made another dumb move of buying brownie mix, but not getting the other ingredients for it. I do have eggs, and I can get water from the tap, but the box says I need oil and milk also. Hmmm. I either need to go shopping again or borrow from somebody. I figure most people will be quite willing to give ingredients for brownies if I share when they're done.
Then I checked out. I'd learned from before to bring my own bags for the groceries. I hauled me three bags out to the bus stop, rode back to near my dorm, and unloaded my purchases. It's great! My shelf in the fridge actually has something in it now besides my half used jar of jelly! For dinner, I just had some open-face ham and cheese sandwiches. Even though I actually had food of my own, people still felt the need to feed me. I think Frederic, a guy on my floor, saw my meal and felt sorry for me. He offered me some rice and chicken that he'd cooked. Of course, I took some; it was yummy. I think one of the reasons I'm avoiding cooking is because it's in a shared kitchen and everyone can watch me cook and scrutinize me. One good thing: they don't have smoke alarms here, so I can't set one off with my cooking like I did in my apartment last summer. We'll see if I actually use the stove or oven one of these days. Maybe I will just keep eating out after all.
I rode the bus to Kaufland without getting lost--quite an accomplishment since I even switched routes along the way. But as soon as I entered, I faced my first shopping challenge: getting a cart. They were all stacked together in one of those rows, you know what I'm talking about, like normal. But each had a small chain connected to the next cart. I didn't know how to unlock it. I stood there stupidly for a while. Finally, someone was kind enough to help me. His English was terrible, but I got that the idea was to insert a one-euro coin into a slot on the handle which unlatched the chain; then, when you were done with the cart, you could hook the chain back up and your euro would pop out. I tell you, everything's so complicated in Europe.
Equipped with my shopping cart, I decided to brave the first aisle. I didn't know exactly what I was going to buy, just stuff that looked easy to cook. I got some bread, lunch meat, cheese, a frozen pizza. I bought some eggs; they were all brown, not white, which threw me off a little. I made the novice mistake of walking down the candy aisle; and it was around 6:00 when I went shopping, so I was hungry. I left that aisle with some Twix, Gummi Bears, Nestle white crunch, etc. And, of course, I bought the European classic, Nutella. I also got pasta and some sauce. I made another dumb move of buying brownie mix, but not getting the other ingredients for it. I do have eggs, and I can get water from the tap, but the box says I need oil and milk also. Hmmm. I either need to go shopping again or borrow from somebody. I figure most people will be quite willing to give ingredients for brownies if I share when they're done.
Then I checked out. I'd learned from before to bring my own bags for the groceries. I hauled me three bags out to the bus stop, rode back to near my dorm, and unloaded my purchases. It's great! My shelf in the fridge actually has something in it now besides my half used jar of jelly! For dinner, I just had some open-face ham and cheese sandwiches. Even though I actually had food of my own, people still felt the need to feed me. I think Frederic, a guy on my floor, saw my meal and felt sorry for me. He offered me some rice and chicken that he'd cooked. Of course, I took some; it was yummy. I think one of the reasons I'm avoiding cooking is because it's in a shared kitchen and everyone can watch me cook and scrutinize me. One good thing: they don't have smoke alarms here, so I can't set one off with my cooking like I did in my apartment last summer. We'll see if I actually use the stove or oven one of these days. Maybe I will just keep eating out after all.
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