Yes to everything but the last one. I only have eight days left before this blog becomes officially out of date and I am no longer in Amsterdam, so one of my goals is to now make the most of it. Post, post, post. Write about all the things I have been meaning to write about this semester but haven't gotten around to yet. Starting with:
Grocery Stores!
Let me tell you a secret: I love grocery stores. I love how you can know exactly where you are based on what grocery stores you see around you. Seattle is all about Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons, and QFC. I know I am in Iowa when I see HyVee. And nothing screams Michigan like a mega (mega, mega) Meijer monopoly. So to me, some of the most important parts of my "Amsterdam identity" are what grocery stores I shops at. They are:
Aldi
Albert Heijn
Super de Boer
I know this is not a complete list of Dutch grocery stores, but I've never made it to a Dirk van den Broek or C1000 or others, so I won't write about them. Instead I am going to write a little bit about the pros and cons of each store that I have been to over the last (yikes!) four months. Starting with:
ALDI
Some of you are saying, "Hey, we have Aldi in the U.S.!" You are correct in noticing that the same chain found near Buffalo Wild Wings in Grand Rapids is also found several places in the Netherlands. Such as the Aldi found near Uilenstede:
Pros:
Aldi is by far the overall cheapest option for food that we've got. You can generally buy more food there (larger boxes of cereal, larger packages of vegetables) than at the other stores, and yet the price is still lower. I have also deemed the stroopwafels found at Aldi to be the best packaged stroopwafels available.
Cons:
At a 15-20 minute walk away, Aldi is further than most stores I go to. The walk is not so bad since spring has arrived, but earlier in the semester it could be brutal (Hint: my first walk back from Aldi convinced me to buy boots). Also, Aldi is a bit like Costco in that things are not always there when you look for them. It depends on when the shipments come in, I guess. But for giant boxes of pannekoeken mix and cheap deals in the bargin bins, Aldi can't be beat.
**Side note**
My walk to Aldi takes me along this canal:
Who doesn't want to see that when they walk to a grocery store? Last week I saw a heron! A heron!
My point is that I love being able to walk to the store. Sad as it may sound, I've never lived anywhere where that was possible. I love my house in Seattle, but the fact that it is at least 1 mile from anything non-residential and on top of a giant hill make walking TO anything a rare event (as in, only when we are snowed in). In Grand Rapids my house is walking distance from Calvin, which helps satisfy my desire to be able to walk places from my house, but getting groceries is still a load-up-the-car-and-go-to-Meijer event.
But in Amsterdam I can walk to the store! Sure I have to make many weekly trips since I can only buy what I can carry, but that is part of the Dutch lifestyle. I can honestly say (now that I have entered the end of the semester where it is appropriate to be retrospective) that walking to the grocery store is one of the things I will miss most.
Back to business!
ALBERT HEIJN
That cryptic little symbol on the blue sign there is the A and H of Albert Heijn, a pillar in Dutch culture. I would go there more if it weren't so out of the way.
Pros:
AH is one of the *bigger* grocery stores out here, although by American standards it is still very small. Its vegetable mixes for soup, stir fry, etc., are some of the freshest and best. The bread from their bakery is delicious. Oh, and did I mention the FREE COFFEE?
I didn't get any the day I took this picture because it was 70+ degrees out and coffee did not sound good. I did, however, snap some other sneaky photos to give you an idea of what AH looks like. Here is an action shot of my basket:
Note the Albert Heijn brand vegetable mix and Albert Heijn brand cola. Also note that everything is BLUE. These grocery stores are big on their color schemes.
And here's the chip aisle. Impressive:
Cons:
Far away. Albert Heijn is also a 15 minute walk away, but it is in a completely different direction than Aldi and Super de Boer, as in away from the VU, the direction I hardly every go. But this can turn into a
Pro:
I walk far away to a hidden little neighborhood store and no one knows that I am not Dutch. More on that later.
**Side note**
There is also a small store on Uilenstede's campus that I will describe briefly here. It has no name (that I'm aware of) which is why I didn't mention it earlier.
Pros:
Extreme convenience. For example, I went there once this past week because I needed a break from studying but I couldn't be gone long.
Cons:
EXTREME overpricing. To the extreme. Which is why I try to go there only in emergencies.
But last week constituted a blogging emergency, because I realized there were two brands I needed to share with y'all. Ready?
First, this pizza that always makes me feel self-conscious:
This pizza is saying, you are going to become a Big American because you bought this frozen pizza to eat! And to that I say, no, pizza! It is exam week, give me a break! Plus it is all for my blog readers!
Then, to boost my self confidence, I turn to these Doritos:
Thank you, Doritos. I know I am a Cool American. Confidence restored.
I hope you enjoyed that.
Last but not least,
SUPER DE BOER
Pros:
This store is by far the store I frequent the most simply because it is close to Uilenstede (5 minutes) AND located directly on the travel path between Uilenstede and the VU, a path that I travel quite often. Super de Boer is slightly less cool than Albert Heijn, but in general it is a solid place. Good variety, good food.
Cons:
Not the overall cheapest (Aldi) or best quality (Albert Heijn). But over the course of this semester, convenience has trumped price and quality nine times out of ten. Besides, if you know what brand to look for (cough, Eurocent brand, cough) there are great deals to be had (six mini-loaves of bread for 13 cents!).
And now a look into the teal-and-lime store. I told you these stores loved their color schemes!
On the right there is the rack where I have picked up Dutch recipes several times. What am I going to do with recipes in Dutch? Who knows.
Here is a look at the vegetable section. Notice the diligent worker clad in a teal and lime green jacket:
One of the strangest things about stores here that we had to get used to is the fact that eggs are not refrigerated. It freaked me out at first, but now I hardly notice:
There you have it, grocery stores that I have grown to love! Time to let you in on another secret: in Berlin we "practiced" coming up with answers to the questions that we will inevitably be asked when we return home, questions like "What was your favorite part?"
Although I have many favorites about this semester, I decided that one of them is going to the grocery store and blending in. I don't see a-n-y tourists at a neighborhood Albert Heijn or a hidden Aldi. I can see what normal people are buying and what foods are unique to the area. And, with the rudimentary Dutch skills I have acquired, I can make it through the "Hello...here you are...thank you, goodbye" exchange at the checkout relatively unnoticed. That's right, I can pretend to be Dutch! Or rather, no one knows that I'm not NOT Dutch, if that makes sense.
After four months of saying "English, please?" and always being blatantly aware of the fact that I am so American, I love the feeling of going to the grocery store and getting away with not explaining myself. It's when I feel the most like I live here.
So I will keep going to the store for eight more days, since I at least have those left...
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