Grocery Shopping Horrors

 The first few days here has been a whirlwind. I have no idea if I’m jet lagged or not because I don't have time left over in the day to feel tired - we are constantly going! My first battle while being here though came just two days after my arrival… grocery shopping.

I kid you not, it took me going to five different groceries stores to try and find chicken broth – and I never did find it. I ended up settling for chicken powder to then add to water. I cannot even begin to explain to you how difficult it is doing grocery shopping when the brands you’re familiar with aren’t here so you can’t visually identify anything, and all the labels are in a language you don’t speak. A sketchy carton sitting on a shelf no bigger in size than a deck of playing cards labeled ‘Schlagsahne’ is whipping cream. You won’t find the eggs in the refrigerated section by the milk and cheese because the eggs are just on a shelf – unrefrigerated – which I’m very concerned about. Everyone only buys what they can carry, grocery shopping is a daily occurrence. Everyone also nearly is sprinting through the grocery store, there is no leisurely perusing, it is practically like one of those you have 60 seconds to get as much as you can and its free reality game shows. This is not HEB with aisles upon aisles of goodness, here you work with what limited options you have, and I’m not even that good of a cook with the endless options I’m used to having.

And don’t even get me started on how anxiety-fueled checking out is. I don’t know what’s worse, 1) rehearsing your lines in German in your head over and over playing through scenarios of potential dialogue the cashier may have with you only for them to go completely off-script from the scenario you made up in your head and not knowing what to do or 2) the panic of trying to shove all your groceries into your backpack as fast as you can avoid being an inconvenience by holding up the line and additionally trying to avoid having to pay for a paper bag. I will now always buy less than 10 items so I can use the self-check-out. This is a new firm rule.

I miss my HEB.