Grocery Shopping & Laundry . . .my first foray into Dutch living.

I went grocery shopping last night mainly b/c I was in need of some laundry detergent as I hadn't done laundry in 2 weeks, and had a suitcase full of clothes that I had in Mexico that need to be done and until my air shipment arrives on Monday morning, I am limited to the clothes that I had packed in my other suitcase and upon review, not sure what I was thinking!  So off to the Albert Heijn I went.  The one thing that I have observed about living here is that everything is measured in the number of minutes of the walk away something is - and they don't round up or down to nearest 5!  So I was told that the Albert Heijn was 6 minutes away - not 5, but 6 and it was.  I was a little timid about trusting Google maps to get me there, as Monday ended up as a complete sh*t show trying to get to work, but this time it was very straightforward.  Exit building.  Turn right.  Walk about 4 minutes.  Turn right.  Walk about 2 minutes and there it would be - and it was!

Albert Heijn is the major chain here in the Netherlands - kinda like Safeways but a fraction of the size.  Challenge #1 when I got the store, I saw these baskets that seemed to have an extra handle and as I stood there trying to figure it out, up walks a 4 year old, who picks one up and quickly proceeds to use it properly.  It was an extra handle so you could tow the basket behind you - duh.  I swapped it out for a regular basket.  Challenge #2 - NOTHING is in English.  I don't know why, but for some reason I thought that some things would be in English but they weren't.  Thank God for fresh vegetables and fruit because I can realize that.  The one food group that continues to stump me is dairy.  I can't seem to figure out what is what and I think they drink yogurt here, so for now, I am avoiding it.  There were a few things that were familiar so I bought them.

Sabra Hummus & Laughing Cow - those I know!

Challenge #3 - there are no brands that I recognize with the exception of say Oreos but that wasn't what I was looking for.  And unlike in North America where you have 50 different types of something, here you are lucky if you have 2!  Since I had forgotten my Dutch phrase book at home, I just stuck to the basics like some veggies, cheese, bread and chocolate!  I have noticed that compared to Canada - groceries are cheap here.  Today I have to head back to the market to buy things like dish soap, garbage bags, etc. You would think that they would have them here but they don't!

When you check out, they ask if you want these mini-groceries - so I said "sure" not knowing what the hell she was telling me - and here is what I got.  Not too sure if I am collecting something or what!  I guess time will tell.


Activity #2 last night and what precipitated the trip to the grocery store was laundry!  Fortunately my apartment has an in-suite washer & dryer and THANKFULLY it isn't one of those combo units that seems to be common in Europe, but the washing machine is slower than molasses in January!  I do think though, it could have something to do with the operator and her not understanding Dutch, so may not be using it the right way.  In the end though, my clothes came out clean!

Washing machine controls - yep, that is Dutch!

In the end, I survived both my first trip to the grocery store and my first loads of laundry!