It is definitely getting chillier here- last night the high was 6 degrees. So something like 42 or 43F, as an estimate. It's cold outside today too, and cloudy. The trees are continuing to turn brownish. It definitely feels like Fall here, although it doesn't look like Fall. And it feels different from fall in Michigan. There's a Clint Black song that I always think of around this time of the year in Michigan, and it goes, "I can't explain, there's something strange about the early fall. It's a comfort leaving me without a care. I remain, while everything around me hears the call, and tonight I feel a change in the air." I used to listen to country a lot in the mid 90s, before it got progressively more and more about cheating on people, nascar, and other stuff that I don't care to listen to. If you want to hear true country, look for Chet Atkins. True old school country is very popular here believe it or not- I see lots of CDs and things, and I listened to a station which played Dolly Parton right after a very old Willie Nelson song. There is a definite interest in all things American here, right down to country music. :)
I thought today I'd put up some pictures of food labels- I found them interesting, and they are very different from the US ones. Here is a box of soy milk, which they call Soya drink:
If you look at it, you can see a big V in the corner of the box- that is to indicate that it is Vegan safe. They take being vegetarian (and all forms of it) very seriously here, and they label everything so that vegetarians don't have to ever consume animal products of any sort if they don't choose to. Sometimes where that V is other products will have something that says Gi or other things if you are Gluten intolerant, have diabetes, or are allergic to nuts. All products are quite clearly labeled to help those people navigate products. The 5 other boxes are supposed to convey some sort of nutritional information, but I think the US system is clearer and actually tells you something. The back of the box is different too:
It's color coded so you know where to find the relevant info that you need. The pink at the top is for allergies- they have to tell you about whether there were even ever at one point nuts in a factory where this product was made. it's very thorough. They have the standard vitamins and minerals stuff on there too. And very detailed directions about how to store it and take care of it.
Even Pepsi has to make their bottles fit into the teeny fridges. This one was still too tall to fit. It's a 1.5L bottle, and yes, it does in fact taste like real Pepsi. :) We don't drink pop much (hardly ever) and this one lasted for about 2 months.
Sometimes the funniest things here are not the foods themselves, but the labels. Here's a good example:
In case you can't read it, it says, "Volvic, fills you with Volcanicity!" Now, G and I found this hilarious- the main aspects of volcanoes are that they are really hot, they erupt, and spew gases and big chunks of molten lava all over the place. Why would anyone want to buy a product with such a negative implication about the effect it will have on your GI track? It seems like bad marketing. But in fact, they are trying to say that "Volcanicity" is like some type of energy- drinking our product will give you more energy all day long. Hmm. The picture of the person jumping into the air just didn't add to their concept of this product.
Another favorite strange label of ours is the toothpaste and tooth product series called Retard-ex. I don't have a picture- we discovered that one on a previous trip. :)
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