Tasty food, grocery stores and Kinder eggs

It's amazing how different the food here is, even though I'm cooking and eating very similar things.  I guess I'm going to go backwards today, just to mix things up.  I just ate dinner.  Grilled cheese (I found the American stuff! Though white...), tomato soup from a packet, the best apple sauce I have ever tasted, and a glass of milk out of an unrefrigerated box.  You really wouldn't think it was that special.  But things taste different here.  My bread is fresh, bought unsliced, and super soft on the inside with a really hard crust.  I normally eat the crust, but here I'm having a heard time. Or at least my teeth are. 

What's funny is that things taste so different here that I don't mind trying (and generally end up liking) things that I would never ever get at home.  I found this in Chile too.  There I liked fish, here I like random things like vol-au-vent (chicken and biscuits with mushroom gravy... Granted, I might like this in the states, but I never would have tried it to know).

Even basics are different.  I'd be hard pressed to say that eggs taste different, or the clementines, but for the past two mornings, I've had soft-boiled eggs, toast, and clementines.  In actuality, I probably eat 4-6 clementines a day, but it's better than snacking on those amazing waffles.  You walk through the metro here, and all you can smell are fresh-made waffles, sugar attacking your nostrils.  Of course, the little pubs in the metro also have fantastic food.  But I've talked about the food before.

The grocery store is also very different. Weird layouts (triangles) seem to be the norms.  I can't tell you how long I spend trying to find basics. Like nutella, which shouldn't be so hard to find when they have displays like this:

And there are more to the right... and to the left is speculoos. Which I think I already talked about.

Of course, there are also the random things I find, like Mickey Mouse turkey:

(Anyone who knows how to rotate - let me know how? Thanks.)

And last but definitely not least; would you like some alcoholic sparkling cider for your kids? You do? Ok:

This wasn't the only brand, either. Different cultures, I guess.

On a different note, anyone who knows anything about me knows I love chocolate.  My favorite is something called a Kinder [enter "Surprise" any given language].  They're illegal in the US because when you open them up they have little plastic capsules in them that have toys you put together and put stickers on and basically are a whole ton of fun.  (I know, I'm really just a big kid at heart. It makes me way too excited when I get them.)

Anyways, I grew up knowing them because they would be brought for me from family and friends - mostly Europe, but they're also sold in Canada and Mexico.  Since I've been here, I've bought four boxes (of three) and five or six free from candy shops...

Look at all the fun toys I've gotten! =]

Keep in mind that these toys come in hollow chocolate eggs that are no bigger than real eggs.  Two flying things, a toy tractor (with three movable parts), two smurfs, and a photo/note holder (yeah, it looks weird, but that's what it is).  Of course, I can't forget to mention that the egg itself is fantastic - milk chocolate with white chocolate on the inside. All about a millimeter thick =]

In other news, we have a French test Thursday, no one can understand the teacher; my first speech for COMM 250 is tomorrow afternoon; and marketing is turning out to be... interesting, but fun.

Tomorrow I am going in search of a post office, getting the things that I know I want to send home for (most) friends and family, and getting my tickets to Zurich.  Maybe not in that order. 

Goodnight, world.