So how is life different here? I will start by describing cooking. I have to use filtered water to cook with and drink. We need to soak our vegetables and fruit in bleach water before eating them. I use a gas stove that the degrees are in Celsius vs Fahrenheit. My measuring cups have grams not cups on them.
Shopping takes longer because not every grocery store has everything I need in it. I walk to the grocery store. I can only buy a little produce and bread at a time or it goes bad to quickly. This means that I have to go shopping more frequently.
The other day, I tried to buy eggs from a convenience store called a “boutique” here. I didn’t know the word for eggs so I tried looking for them so I could point to them. I couldn’t see them. I knew the word for chicken and tried to say that they make them. That didn’t work. I was so afraid I was going to have to act like a chicken laying an egg for them to get it but then someone came in that spoke English and helped me. I was so glad. I really did not want to be playing charades for all to see. I am already a spectacle.
We can not get cream soups, black beans, pickle relish, dill weed, and not all vegetables in the grocery stores. Cheese, milk and yogurt are very different. I miss the cheese and milk in the States. You can get fresh baguettes and rolls at road side stands. They are very good. Mangos and papaya are in season and are so good!
Meat can be bought in the grocery stores but is very expensive. Or you can buy it at a butcher where there is no refrigeration, there are flies all over the meat and they handle money and meat at the same time. I bought beef there this week. I plan on cooking it for hours to make sure it is ok to eat. That is what most people do and it is ok.
Chickens come with feet and neck attached and heart and liver still inside. Sometimes a few feathers still poking out of the skin. The meat is something I am going to take a bit to get used to.
So that is a little about food prep. I will write more later about other things..