"Paper or plastic" in the Fatherland...

Let's face it: Americans love to shop -- even grocery shop. For those who have traveled abroad, American supermarkets offer a dizzying variety of everything from motor oil to toothpaste. As you can imagine, shopping in Germany has been a pretty interesting adjustment. A few of the interesting differences:

1. Most food items are noticeably cheaper than in the States. Go figure.
   
2. You have to deposit a Euro to get a shopping cart (you get it back when you return the cart).
   
3. There are no free bags to lug your stuff home at the register. You can buy plastic or cloth bags that are meant to be re-used. Makes sense to me. Many people carry small baskets to the grocery store which seems pretty quaint.
   
4. You can't pay with a credit card at most supermarkets. Cultural sensitivity aside, that's just weird.
   
5. You pay a deposit on plastic Coke bottles. We never remember to take them with us so they're piling up in our apartment.
   
6. There's no beef. You get this at butcher shops and it's not cheap (one of the things that's noticeably more expensive here).
   
7. There's no fresh milk. Luckily, we're used to "boxed" milk from our travels to Brazil.
   
8. Booze and wine are really, really cheap. Woohoo!

And a parting, related note: Refrigerators in Germany are really small and not very cold. Our temporary housing has a refrigerator that would leave many a dorm-dweller annoyed. I'm not sure if people go to the store every day to get fresh food or because their refrigerator won't hold more than a 24-hour stock.