1. Don’t get anything from the little Turkish/Greek shop around the corner except fresh veggies, unless it’s Sunday and you have no choice.
2. All the big shops are closed on Sunday. Try the Turkish/Greek shop.
3. Monday through Friday, the grocery store will be open only during the most inconvenient hours… that is, the hours that any body who wishes to buy groceries will be working to earn money to buy groceries. Sometimes, they’re open until 8pm though, so hurry. Otherwise, wait for Saturday.
4. Saturday at the grocery store is utter insanity, because it is full of starving American xpats trying to read labels in languages they don’t understand and calculating from the decimal system to cups and pounds while swapping month with day on expiry dates.
5. Always, always check your expiry dates. They’re not quite so anal about that here.
6. Don’t freak out: the huge, scary price on the display isn’t really the price of what you’re buying. It’s the price per kilogram. Check the smaller-print price to see what you’re paying.
7. Shopping carts are NOT available INSIDE the store. That would be waaay to convenient. The weather here is crappy, guy - get out your umbrella again and trek back outside to get your cart from the rainy, miserable parking lot. Also, make sure you have the right change. Some carts are €.50, some are €1 and some are €2, but no matter what, you have to stick a coin in to get one.
8. Bring your own shopping bags. Sometimes, you can buy shitty plastic bags in the store, but they are expensive. Or, they have the fancy plastic bags for a bit more money.
9. Thou shalt bag thy own goods. No help here, no matter how long you stare at the cashier.
10. At most grocery stores, there is also a little stand where you can have your shoes resoled. This can be handy if your shoes were fabricated in the 1930’s. They also make keys and license plates.
(I am editing this to say that I just noticed, just now for the first time, that in that picture my shadow-head is stuck up my own ass. That makes me feel kinda funny.)
