FOREIGN SUPERMARKTS

One of the great joys/challenges of doing what I do is negotiating foreign supermarkets. Or markts as they seem to be called in many countries in Europe.

My friend Robin has an apartment in Amsterdam that he rarely uses and has kindly allowed me to stay here. It's like having my own swingin' bachelor pad in the city. But a bachelor needs to eat breakfast. So I had to go hunt down some foodstuffs.

The big supermarket chain in The Netherlands, or at least here in Amsterdam, is Albert Heijn. You don't pronounce the J. It's smaller than most US supermarkets but about the same size as the ones in Japan. At least in Japan, though, I could read the packages. Here I had to guess. I figured that "roomboter" in a yellow package was probably butter. I was right! I also got some cereal and some halfvoole melk, which I believe to be 2% milk. I'm guessing "halfvoole" is "half whole" and therefore half the usual fat of whole milk, therefore 2%. Deductive reasoning! Or something...

They say — somebody says anyway, I can't remember who (which may be relevant) — that one way to avoid becoming senile in your old age is to never get into a rut. You've got to keep changing your habits and not get stuck in routines, apparently. If this is true I ought to be in good shape. It's pretty intense when even basic things like figuring out what's edible become problematic. I suppose our ancient ancestors had to do a lot of that, though.

Friday I'll be in Paris. Then the following week I'm in Berlin. Leonard Cohen took Manhattan first and then Berlin. But I'm starting with Paris.

The rest of my schedule is at this link. There are still a bunch of things you can participate in. So if you're in Poitiers, Berlin, Munich, Bielefeld, Östringen, Essex, Antwerp or Manchester your plans are already made!

See ya!

(Here is a video of some cats I stayed with in Nijmegen, Netherlands)