Shopping

We have been here in Poland for just over one month already and the adjustment has been better than we could have anticipated.  No doubt, we have a huge prayer army that has been faithful during our time of transition! 

So what's been the hardest thing to adjust to?  Shopping, shopping, and then shopping again.  It sounds silly but it has truly been the toughest part for our family.  There are many things that factor into why shopping is tough.  There's the obvious part where we are an American family trying to make American food in a foreign country.  We are open to making Polish food but we need help learning how to make some of the traditional and staple foods.  We will find someone to teach us but it's summer vacation here and people are busy with travel, etc.

If you are Facebook friends with Dustin or myself, you've probably viewed the video on how small our kitchen appliances are here in Poland.  The oven is small and the fridge is small.  This means less storage and limited cooking space.  While the refrigerator is small, you also have to keep in mind that things like eggs and liter milk cartons, unless opened, aren't refrigerated here.  This frees up some space in the fridge.  Our kitchen also has limited storage space.  So space is a factor but it's not the biggest issue.

Cartons of milk that don't expire until November in our cabinet.

We are a large family and so we consume more food.  The problem with buying a lot of food all at once though is that we do not have a car.  When we go shopping, we either catch a bus, walk, or we ride bikes.  This means whatever we buy has to fit in backpacks, on arms, and/or in bicycle baskets.  We sometimes take three people to shop but even then, we are limited on what we can bring home at one time.  Taking all seven of us is complete chaos and we try to avoid it if at all possible.  Although, it does give us more arms for carrying stuff.

The elements also play a role in shopping.  The weather completely matters when you are walking to bus stops or biking to stores.  We've had quite a bit of rainy weather lately and a few of us have been caught in storms.  Waiting storms out takes time and that isn't always a choice we want to make.  Winter will be really tough as bikes won't be an option which means waiting on buses.

Last thing that makes it difficult is that not every store carries every item.  We are blessed to have many shops and stores available to purchase food from but even the large ones like Tesco or Kaufland have some things and not other things.  So many times, we have to stop at more than one store to grab everything we need.

The good news is that we are slowly learning what each store carries and we are getting to the point we can go about every other day to the store.  It's still often but without a car, this is probably about as good as we are going to get for now.  We've talked about buying a cheap vehicle or a vehicle that can hold us all and then selling it before we leave but we really haven't felt clear direction on what to do yet.  Public transportation within Lubin is free.  Hard to beat free but it also limits our family to Lubin.

I have said multiple times that if shopping is the hardest part of our transition, we are truly blessed.  Our needs are being met daily and we've joined a wonderful mission and church team here.  We have much to be thankful for.

This is our sliced deli meat location usually.  I also like to buy fruit from the stand just outside. 
Notice the name of this and then the store just below.

We don't shop here really ever because it's not as close to us but it is funny that it's on the same road as Alfa.

This place is great for rotisserie chickens, pizza dough, and crescent roll dough. 
It's a nice large grocery store and the prices are fairly good.

This is an English owned store that's exactly like Walmart with food, clothing, and home items. 
Has a great gluten free selection and ethnic food area.

This place is conveniently located close to our church.  If we need something quick, we may swing in here. 
The name actually translates as Ladybug.

This is our go to quick place.  It's on the walk to church/school.  We have found single yogurts here for less than $0.20/each.  So we get all our breakfast yogurts here and some other staples like bread and milk.  The logo contains a Scottish terrier but Netto actually translates as net.  Not sure what these two things have to do with each other but whatever!