Despite everyone (more or less) being able to speak English, everything is still written in Dutch. After I had gotten settled, I decided it was time to search for a grocery store. I had been told it was close by, but got lost searching for it. Finally I was able to find it after many different people giving me directions. Everything here is really different. The packaging, flavourings, brand names... It was so disorienting walking in to see groceries that are the same as home and yet very different. For example, at home, heading down the chip aisle you see Sour Cream and Onion, BBQ, Ketchup and Salt and Vinegar flavours (among others). Here, there is nothing like that. Instead they have Paprika (see pic below), Bolognese (I thought this was a type of pasta?!), and Cheese and Onion. There are a bunch of other flavours, but each as unique and different as those.
I bought a bag of Bolognese flavour chips and they don't really have much taste. At one of the events I went to I tried the Praprika flavoured ones which weren't bad. For the most part, chips here are less salty and have less intense flavouring compared to those at home.
Getting fruit and veggies is an interesting process too. They have these machines (see pic) where you can weigh the produce, select what it is and then it will give you a sticker to put on your bag. Cashiers don't have to memorize code after code like at home.
Produce sticker machine
The end result =)Another thing drastically different is the availability of alcohol in the grocery store. They have a couple aisles filled with wine, beer and other alcohols. Definitely weird coming from Canada...
One thing I heard a lot about was the cheese here. There are soo many varieties. Some of them look scary (and smell funny). Can't wait to try the different types. Mmmm cheeeeeeese!
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