CHEESE

It still amazes me at how much the little things become big things here. For example, any time I would want to buy cheese in the United States, I could do it, with relative ease. However, here in Spain, it becomes a much bigger task in my mind.

Every time I walk home from school, I see a store that sells cheese and ham and other little things. And every time I pass it, I think, “I really want some cheese.” Well, this past weekend, we went to Valencia, but before leaving, I thought, hmm if I bought some cheese and Kerry bought some bread, then we could make sandwiches for the weekend. There are a lot more things to consider when buying cheese than I realized. For example, they don’t use pounds here, what was I supposed to say? I want a little bit of cheese? After calling our director, Kit Brown, I learned that I could say I want a ¼ kilo de queso para hacer bocadillos. I walked up to the store, took a deep breath and walked inside. Whew, made it past step one. But then, what kind of cheese do I need? Should I buy ham too? I decide to just look things over, observe other customers and take my time in making my decision.

After watching 2 customers order, I decide that it is cured cheese that I want because I have had that before and know that it doesn’t need to be refrigerated- perfect for a weekend trip. So I smile at the man behind the counter and place my order. He was so nice and patient and helped me through the process and even sliced my cheese into little triangles. SUCCESS!

That little task made me so excited. It’s funny to think that cheese could make me so happy. That was the best cheese I think I have ever tasted.