Cursed Be The One Who...

Cursed be the one who doesn't weight their grapes before getting to the checkout!

A little culture lesson today about German grocery stores is in order. First, free plastic bags don't exist. Plastic bags are available, but you have to pay for them. Really, you learn rather quickly to bring bags with you all the time (something my family already does in the States anyway...). It just makes sense to bring you own bags with you; you can fit way more in a re-usable bag than in those awful plastic bags, and you are living greener at the same time. Save the planet, people! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

There were a few things I needed at the grocery store today, so after work I got my iPod and took the walk to the store. Downhill isn't so bad, you just have remember not to buy too much so that you struggle carrying it back up the hills!

The things that I needed were bananas, raspberries (they didn't have any, so I got grapes instead), philadelphia cream cheese with Milka chocolate and toothpicks. Why these random things? I found a great recipe for "Raspberry Banana Bites" and wanted to make them for tomorrow's farewell party for the other two interns who have finished their time here at CEPA. "International Finger Foods" is on the menu, and as others were bringing savory dishes, I wanted to bring something sweet but not so calorie-laden. For this recipe you need to slice the banana, dollop a little of the chocolate spread on the banana and top with fruit. Toothpics only help it to stay together, and help with the whole finger food theme. We'll see how it goes. I think it sounds good, but we'll see.

I picked up a couple other things (you'll see below!) and headed to the checkout. I handed over my bottle return slip, all of 25 cents (though for one bottle, mind you!) and started packing all my groceries into my bag. At the end came the grapes that I bought instead of the raspberries. Now, in Germany, you pay for fruit and vegetables either by weight or by piece. Some are by weight (ie: the bananas I bought) or by piece (ie: the cucumber I bought). The grapes were in a nice little bag, and I checked to see if I had to weight them but it didn't appear so.

Fail. The cashier said, "Oh, you didn't weight these?" I said, "No, I didn't think I needed to." She said, no problem I'll go do it for you. So she went and then all of a sudden I hear this lady behind me say, "What is going on? What is taking so long???" The guy behind me said, "Yeah, she forgot to weigh something...." "Ugh, I hate it when people forget to weight things!" Cursed be those who forget to weight their grapes!!! Hello, I'm standing right here, lady. Thank you very much, and sorry that I forgot. Sheesh! But that's the way it is around here...so friendly and kind and forgiving people are sometimes. Please sense the sarcasm...

And for those of you who read my Wienna blog, you will appreciate this next part. When I arrived to Ingersheim I didn't have to go and buy toilette paper, thank goodness. Though I'm serious, it almost happened again!

It is amazing how fast an apartment of three girls can go through the stuff! I'm so sure you want to know all this. Sorry.

Anyway, here is the hilarious toilette paper I couldn't pass up at the store today:

Euro Cup soccer themed "good and cheap" brand toilette paper. And it even says "with the scent of grass", which I didn't see until I got home. I really REALLY hope it doesn't smell like grass.....!! And I really really hope it's not that cheap...!