The Supermarket

Mike was kind enough to spend some of his afternoon break walking through my local Μαρινόπουλος supermarket with me. He picked me up at my place on his scooter (first scooter ride since I've been here!) and we drove to Kastelli. We're still experiencing some really nice weather so it was a nice mode of transportation, and it meant that I didn't have to navigate the heavy traffic in town in my car, which I've already done once today, on my way back from my Greek lesson.

I've had some difficulty translating the labels on certain items, and often have no idea what the hell I'm buying. The olive oil aisle has been particularly enigmatic for me, as I assumed that somewhere on the label there was an indication of whether it was virgin, extra virgin, whatever. Turns out that isn't so, that the labels indicate nothing of the kind, and Mike said you just use the same olive oil for everything (cooking, salad dressing, etc.). He did show me which kind NOT to buy, which is the stuff made from the pits of the olives versus the flesh. Check. He also helped me understand the laundry aisle, which is filled with row upon row of liquid stuff. I assumed that some of it was detergent and some of it fabric softener, but it turns out that the one whole wall is softener. I've been buying correctly, but just by luck. I also took note of the beer section today, which I usually bypass on my way to the wine section. They've got a relatively decent selection of Belgian and German beers, so I picked up two Erdinger Weibbier, a Bavarian wheat beer, which I've never tried and which I'm hoping will be a nice change from the Mythos that has become my standard.