OBSERVATIONS

The smell of dead animals, closed stores and the mysterious absence of dish washing brushes: a few observations of a Dutch girl in Spain.

Missing products in supermarkets

Of course, a Spanish supermarket isn’t like a Dutch supermarket. I won’t expect to find any Calvé peanut butter, stroopwafels or Dutch bread. But some things, that just seemed to be regular things to me, are missing in the Spanish supermarkets I’ve been to so far, like:

• Fresh milk. I needed some milk for pancakes, and I noticed they only had pasteurized milk. They might have it in one of those huge supermarkets in shopping malls, but not just in the normal supermercado around the corner. 
• Cans of soup. You can’t really find normal, cheap prepared soup in cans here, just broth in packages and in powder form. I guess everyone prefers to make their own soup rather than opening a can. 
• Bierkratjes, or crates of beer.  
• Oven breads (or any translation for ‘afbakbrood’). The usual breads are like baguettes, they won’t last longer than a day. There’s also always a huge selection of what I like to call “fake bread”: these toast breads and croissants in plastic bags that you can keep for weeks or even months, but taste like nothing. Luckily, some bakeries are open on Sunday’s (although opening times are kind of strange here, more on that below).  
• Dish washing brushes. I mean, why? How else do you do the dishes? I thought it was weird our previous flat mate only had sponges, but now I understand. When I finally found them at IKEA I immediately stocked up.

Other supermarket observations:

• As expected, things just take a little longer here in the south, though I already got used to that in France. No running to the store just to grab one little thing, it will take longer than 10 minutes. Cashiers and customers always have a lot to talk about, while your frozen foods are slowly defrosting… 
• In order to use your debit card, you have to pay at least 12 euros. Why do supermarkets here still do this? It will take more time to give change (and they also still have the 1 and 2 cents here). And why twelve euros?  
• Random products are locked up behind glass, so you have to ask someone from the store to open it for you. I sort of understand they do this for liquor, but for deodorants that cost 1,80? Again, why?

Odd opening times 

I thought that in a big city like Barcelona, stores would be open at “normal times” and that siesta was only a thing for smaller businesses and villages, but unfortunately, it’s still very much alive. We live in a busy street, but hardly anything is open between 1:30 and 5:00.

And it gets weirder. We wanted to go to the bakery on Saturday, but they were already closing. It was around 2:15. They were actually supposed to close around 3, according to the sign, and they still had tons of bread left, but they decided to close anyway. Also, when I need something and I patiently wait until 5, it doesn’t mean they will be open at that time, it might just take 20 minutes later. I have the feeling these store owners have a built in sensor that knows when I need something from the store, so they can quickly shut their doors or wait a little longer to open.

One advantage: most of the stores are open after 6 and a lot of the supermarkets stay open until 9. At least you can buy food after work, which isn’t always the case in the Netherlands!

Hams – they’re everywhere

The sudden smell of dead animal. Yep, we’re in the jamón section. I always imagine how horrible it must be for vegetarians, who have to pass by these pig legs every day. Unfortunately, this smell doesn’t only haunt me in supermarkets. When going to la Boquería, which otherwise is a great place to go, you are welcomed by dozens of hams, accompanied by their “specific” odor, right at the entrance. They also seem to be at every mall, as some kind of animal body parts decoration. It’s probably just me, because other people don’t seem to have a problem with it (and I have to admit I have a very sensitive nose), but do they really have to be everywhere? 

Mmm, enjoying a cup of coffee with a side of dead animal smell.

At Carrefour. This is just getting ridiculous. O wait, there’s more on the other side!

Aaand it continues all the way to the right.

Definitely not my favorite part of the supermarket. Seriously…. people don’t need so much ham.

These were just a few random things I noticed during my first month in Spain. Meanwhile, fall has arrived in Barcelona. It was raining for a couple of days and it’s getting colder. It’s almost like Holland! The job search continues and tomorrow I finally have my NIE appointment (identity number for foreigners in Spain). It would be great if I could get it, because you need the NIE if you want to work in Spain. But – and this makes a lot of sense – it is apparently very difficult to get a NIE if you don’t have a job yet. Spanish logic? Well, I’m just going to go there with a bunch of documents and hope for the best. Wish me luck!