"So...what exactly do you eat over there?"

Food. Something that everyone needs and can vary greatly in different countries. When I eat in my flat (apartment), I tend to eat simply and inexpensively. I usually have something from the four most important food groups, which are, as everyone knows, fruit, bread, protein (specifically chicken, ham, or eggs), and chocolate. :-) I don’t really eat anything “weird” or especially out of the ordinary at home. However, I do eat cereal out of a glass cup every morning (I only have salad bowls, which are like deep plates, and these breakable-looking, decorative bowls that I’m afraid to use), and since I never like eating much cereal anyway, it’s actually the perfect size for me. The milk took awhile to get used to; it’s not refrigerated! So it lasts a LOT longer than “normal” milk does. I always refrigerate mine (well, once it’s opened, it needs to be anyway) because non-cold milk is gross, and I actually really like the milk here. Cola Cao is a popular chocolate drink mix here, and I have some that I’ll heat up with milk in my handy-dandy microwave. It’s the closest thing to hot chocolate! The oven and digital stove work well (once I got used to using Celsius instead of Fahrenheit!), and I’m gradually branching out with different foods.

Outside of the flat, I have tried some unusual things. :-) Well, unusual for me at any rate! I’ve gone to several restaurants with different teachers and have eaten meals at their  homes, and I eat the school food occasionally as well (Pira has a cook, but the others order the food). Throughout these experiences, I’ve eaten the following: rabbit, locally grown mushrooms (like hand-picked from a forest!), some sort of weird inside part of a cow (grossness), olives, salad with corn sprinkled on top (really good!), olive oil on salad (a topping I actually like!), olive oil on everything, more olive oil, pastel de Santiago (sort of like coffee cake), flan, chicken (always safe!), various beans, french fries without ketchup and with olive oil, various pasta dishes, some sort of squid disguised as onion rings (grossness as well. Actually, Javi said that his brother, who lived in Michigan for awhile, ate onion rings thinking they were the...squid rings. I had the opposite problem! Haha!), bread and more bread (but NEVER with butter), chestnuts, pan con tomate (bread with tomato rubbed on it—really good!), different kinds of fruits, more olive oil, random chocolate things when I get the chance, and probably more things that I’m forgetting. Elisabeth gave me some pomegranates and figs last Wednesday, and both are really good! I hate Fig Newtons (I showed Laura and Elisabeth what they looked like on the internet), but natural figs? Amazing. Andreu, my current English teacher, recommended a chocolate bar called Suchard, and I tried it this weekend. It’s like the thickest, best-tasting Crunch bar you can imagine. In terms of drinking, I tend to stick with water, juice (unfortunately not as common and amazing as in Mexico), milk, tea, and another chocolate drink called Cacolat. I tend to shock teachers and waiters when I say that I don’t like coffee. :-) Oh, and I did put my tongue in a glass of champagne and a “Sandy,” which is mostly lemon with a small amount of beer. My first evil alcohol experience was in Mexico, when I ate three bites of gelatine doused with wine. It was disgusting. The champagne and Sandy? Even worse! And the most alcohol I’ve consumed, ironically, was in the Baptist church in Lleida (another blog post!). :-) Their communion service used real wine, and I choked down a communion cup full of it. Seriously, I don’t get why people like alcohol AT ALL. Every experience, I kept thinking of a Jeeves and Wooster quote (British series). One guy, after trying alcohol for the first time, sputters out, “What rot! You drink this stuff for PLEASURE??” :-) So between personal conviction and personal preference, I can safely say that I neither like nor drink alcohol. My exception will be for the communion service. :-) Wine, in particular, is just common here. There are vineyards everywhere, and even the little ones at school know the wine-making process. It’s just part of the culture. I won’t embrace it, but I also don’t want to make TOO big a deal about it.

But the number one thing that I haven’t tried yet but am determined to do is to eat...caracoles. What are those? Snails! Like France, they’re common here. I haven’t had the opportunity or the courage yet, but before May, I’m going to try them. Hee hee!

And so ends my random food post. To sum: everyone lives on olive oil. If you live here, get used to it. :-) It doesn’t replace ketchup, but it’s way better than Pam spray and salad dressing!