Ok, so culture shock sets in the most when I am in the grocery store. Strange, but true. We have basically two choices for grocery shopping here. Walmart and the local grocery store, which dominates this area of Texas. They are big and they are everywhere. It's a great store, great service... they bring your cart (they call it a buggy here) out to the car for you and load all of your groceries into your trunk. And they don't expect a tip. wow, won't see Walmart doing that. Ok, but beyond that... the difference is on the inside. You won't see Turkey Hill anything around here. Swiss drinks? Nope. And let me say... I miss Diet Swiss tea, specifically the pomegranate & blueberry flavor. Down here you get sweet tea. And something about diet sweet tea just doesn't seem right. Another thing... pierogies don't exist down here. That put a kink in my meal plan last week. I'll have to come up with a replacement for pierogie casserole. :( Pasta. The aisle is short. It's slim pickin's when it come to both pasta and sauce. Luckily Prego is in the southern vocabulary and I'll be ok. Being so close to the Mexican border we have a bounty of tortillas. So many in fact that I get a little overwhelmed when I plan breakfast burritos for dinner. Flour? Corn? 6 inch 8 inch 10 inch??? Wow! And who knew there was more than one brand of tortilla's?! It's crazy. When you order lunch meat at the deli counter you have to wait for them to slice everything for you. Nothing is sliced already. And you get your meat "shaved" here not "chipped". They even ask you how you want your cheese. The first time I was asked that question I just stared blankly. I had no idea how to answer. Hot dogs... I was hooked on Kunzler turkey dogs. Kunzler is not a name that we have down here. That is sad. I will miss my occasional splurge on John F Martin hot dogs too. Man, they were good on the grill.
sigh
Yes well, I will find a hot dog that I like. And I will say shaved instead of chipped. I will learn to say "sandwich slices" when asked how I want my cheese. We are adjusting. I have adjusted to the Dairy Queen that serves more than just ice cream. Yum! Fire ants (um, not eating them... just seeing them in the yard)
Ok, that was a short list. :) Surely there is more that we are used to by now! Anyway... I'm off to get some groceries. I went to the store yesterday but the kids were with me... and it was disastrous. So now I get to go back and actually buy something that we can eat for a meal. We are going to try out Frito pie. (YWAM flashbacks are in full swing) (Lord help me)
What things would you miss?
2 comments:
How about those biscuits and gravy from YWAM? I attribute ALL of the 15 pounds I gained in that 5 month DTS to those biscuits and gravy. They we so amazingly good. The south does have the corner on the market of comfort foods.
A short pasta aisle!? Wow, I'd have to expand my repertoire considerably.
When we lived in Israel, I missed Vanilla Coke, Blueberry Morning cereal, and Breyer's Mint Chocolate ice cream. Jeff missed canned jalapenos...until he talked to the guy who ran the little corner grocery store, who then started ordering them just for Jeff. :)
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