Food

So since I've been here, I've been struggling the most adapting to the Dutch diet. As a tourist the first week, I relied on restaurants for meals. Lunch was easy: en broodje (sandwich) but breakfast and dinner have been an expensive struggle. First off: the Dutch don't eat breakfast outside their homes. There's plenty of breakfast foods, but they are only sold in the supermarket. Dinner has been an uphill battle. Eating dinner in a restaurant is reserved for special occasions, and thus meals are expensive and cheap restaurants are almost nonexistent. During my first two weeks of Dutch Language and Culture (DLC) program, I am responsible for providing my own meals. This situation is not much different than living in an apartment, the only difference is the accessibility of buying food. At home I just jump into my car and drive to Vons or Savemart and buy whatever I need. I have brands that I like more than others, and I trust and know those brands. When I go to the grocery store here: I can't read any of the labels (all in Dutch), I barely recognize any brands, and I feel very rushed. My current class schedule only allows an hour or two for shopping, 20 minutes which are spent walking to the closet Albert Heijn (grocery store). Entering the store, I grab a basket (baskets are used more than carts). The first thing you see is the produce, and then everything else is tightly packed, they waste no space. There are no wide lanes for carts or time to stroll down asiles, read labels, and compare prices; everybody is in a hurry to grab what they need and get out quickly. Then you wait in line, there's a small platform for your basket while you unload it onto a tiny moving belt. The cashiers sit on chairs and scan your food. They don't pack your food, but you have to frantically throw it into your own bags. They do have small plastic bags, but bigger bags cost 20 euro cents. By the time you're done paying, the cashier is already checking out the next person and you're still trying to pack up the last of your stuff.
My diet has consisted of: cereal and applesauce for breakfast, or maybe pancakes with bananas and powdered sugar, hot sandwhich (love the sandwhich press: easiest grilled cheese ever) and an appel for lunch, and pasta for dinner. Otherwise I've eaten out for most of my dinners. Class assignments have sent me out for Surinamese, Vietnamese (most expensive pho ever), and Indo-Chinese resturant. The local snack shop, De Smurf, serves fries with mayonaise, croquettes, and patay (artery clogging fried everything) and the bakery at the corner has the most delicious french bread, and deli sandwhichs (broodjes). Everything seems more oily, salty, and heavier. I feel so unhealthy. Luckily my housemates are coming back from Christmas break. Elena is hapa and thus cooks Japanese food. Tonight she made curry rice and my craving for white rice has thus been satisfied.
Next week, hopefully, the dining hall will reopen and I will have easy access to regular meals without having to 'cook'. But from what I've heard thus far, the dining hall is not spectacular, so I might still have to keep snacks and light meals ready in the dorm room.