Cold Cereal

For our experience living abroad, we tend to think of ourselves as doing a reasonably good job living like a local and adapting to local customs. We eat more fish than we ever did living in the United States, a rice cooker is a standard appliance on my kitchen counter, I’ve grown accustom to the grocery store not opening until 10am, Ryan doesn’t drive a car to work and Roo sings the equivalent of the alphabet (sa, shi, su, se, so) song in Japanese more readily than A, B, C, etc. But one habit we just can’t (or don’t want to) break is COLD CEREAL. We love cold cereal! All three of us. Often we eat it for breakfast, sometimes a late night snack, and occasionally supper if we’re off schedule. And, we’ve become spoiled by the variety available in America. Sure we always have a box of cheerios on hand, but we like variety, too. Oat squares, Lucky Charms, Life and of course, Golden Grahams. The selection here, even in the stores catering to foreigners, is pretty limited. I’ve picked up the feeling that cold cereal consumption on a daily basis is exclusively American. Not even the Europeans purchase a 20 oz box of cereal. In fact, they seem to be buying the gargantuan bags of granola. The first time Roo brought out a 20 oz box of cheerios when our Japanese teacher was visiting her eyes got big and all she said was “wow”. I realize cold cereal is the epitome of processed food, something I try steer clear of. But for now it’s one vice we haven’t conquered. We’re happy to have Expat Express shipping and the 23 boxes that arrived yesterday from America!