It didn’t take long for us to settle in, I figured it would be about a week or so & I was pretty much right. This doesn’t mean that we don’t still stick out, but I am ok with sticking out, I am not one of those people that seems to blend in much, in life & not knowing very much Polish does mean that you can’t blend in long here.
Knowing how & where to get food is a big thing, especially as we like to cook a lot, rather than eat out all the time.
We still go to various different shops to get things that work for us, mostly me, as the rest of the family can eat anything, but I worked out pretty fast that I can buy my bread at any of the local Žabko corner shops & not at the local Biedronka. The Schar bread here is nicer than the Schar bread that we get in Canada too, something that I remember from when I was last in Germany in 2019 too. Don’t get me wrong the Schar bread in Canada is still better than any other option I have found so far, but North American bread is so plain
Fresh produce is easily procured at most shops, but there is way more variety at Biedronka or another decently sized shop or at the plethora of fruit & veggie markets that pop up almost as often as the Žabko’s. There are plastic bags that you can use to bag your produce, but you can also bring your own reusable bags (which they also sell at grocery stores) or just not bag your produce. I do highly recommend not forgetting to bring your bags if you wish to buy the unwashed potatoes on special though, they create such a mess & even if you avoid direct eye contact, body language says it’s not something that they generally like people to do (the cashier today, cleaned the counter at least 6 times as she did my groceries).😕
Fresh baked goods are everywhere bakeries, corner stores/ Žabko’s, and grocery stores. Some items are pre-bagged, most others you pick out yourself & pop into wax coated or 100% paper bags. The kids love it & say that it tastes much better than anything they have ever had (except for Upper Canada Village bread). It probably has to do with the fact that even though Canada has less additives in their food than the USA, Europe has even less.
Cereal isn’t generally in a plastic bag inside a box, they just bag it & call it done. Unlike cereal in North America which is made by Kelloggs predominantly, over here it’s made by Nestle. I know that Nestle is a bit of a nasty company, but their cereal certainly isn’t as nasty as the stuff they call cereal in North America. Corn flakes are actually nice, which is a shocking reality. The GF ones are available most places too, even corner stores.
I really like the fact that food is generally in smaller more manageable sizes. Here in the city, everyone walks everywhere (or bikes, there are bike lanes on the sidewalks), parking isn’t easy either if you do have a car, so you walk to the grocery store etc & clearly having large items doesn’t work for that reality.
There is a simplicity to this life that is quite enjoyable.