First "Firsts"

I'm now able to introduce my friend, the one I talk so much about, because he is now an avid reader of mine ;) Though I believe he was amused by the “Red Pants” title, it seems more appropriate to use his name. So without further ado, allow me to introduce Mr. Jeppe Fensholt!! It's because of this guy that I have had several “firsts” this week, and anyone who knows me is well aware I am a collector, if you will, of new experiences. I really, really love trying new things. Luckily for me a giant part of moving to a new country is navigating through first-time-experiences. Heck, for the first few days/weeks/months, even, almost everything is new. While many of these “newnesses” can be challenging and irritating many more are entertaining and exciting.

On day 1 of our Roehampton Uni experience we overcame a few minor language “barriers”. Some things that exist in Norway don't exist in the US, and vise versa, and in the case of Norwegian to English the literal translation of a word doesn't always make sense, which is easy enough to imagine when the thing being described doesn't exist in any English speaking country. The first of these we came across in conversation is a food product that they call KNÄCKEBRÖD, or “Snap Bread”. It's not like a cracker and it's not like bread. It's more like a wholegrain wafer about the size of a coaster, kind of a darkish brownish color, harder than burnt toast but not crunchy. See, there's really nothing quite like it! So imagine trying to explain the item in a language that isn't your first. Now, don't get me wrong, all the international students speak English perfectly and they amaze me day after day. Since no native English speaker is forced into learning, like REALLY learning, a second language the people that DO learn one fluently, like all my friends here have done, impress me to no end. I mean, they can read, write, and speak English just as well as anyone who was raised on it. Seriously, just amazingly impressive.

So anyway, back to the “snap bread”. Since that first day the term has morphed into a commonly used phrase, referenced whenever we come upon a similarly unfamiliar object. But it wasn't until our Ikea adventure that I finally understood what the thing really is. Ikea, being a Swedish chain, sells this food item and so, of course, Jeppe had to buy some and, being the wonderful friend he is, let me try it. The most common way to eat a “snap bread” wafer, so I've been told, is to top it with cream cheese and then just dig in. But there's yet another twist to my story: Their cream cheese comes in a tube, like a toothpaste tube. And it's NOT NOT NOT like regular cream cheese like we're used to in America, either. We are familiar with the fruity flavored cream cheeses, like the Philidelphia Strawberry flavor. BUT in Norway and England and Sweden and the rest, their cream cheese is on the saltier side of the palate menu than ours. I think Americans generally cater to a sweet tooth, instead. So thisless-sweet version of cream cheese, this tubed cream cheese of theirs, has MEAT in it!!! So when Jeppe whipped out this stack of snap bread wafers and a tube of ham-chuncked cream cheese I was incredibly skeptical. But, certain he wouldn't steer me wrong, I trusted him with this concoction of unusual food stuff and, lo and behold, I actually really, really liked the combination. Who woulda thunk? So that was a climactic first-time-experience, to say the least. And yeah...there's absolutely NOTHING like it in the US. Either that or I'm just entirely ignorant of it, which is 100% possible.

Plus

 Equals

 

 

My second Jeppe-induced first-time-experience was another bit of foodie education. In Europe people gorge themselves on kebabs instead of Taco Bell/McDonalds/late night fast food after an evening out. Europeans are WAY into Indian food so Open Late kebab places are incredibly common. Needless to say when my dear Jeppe discovered I'd never tasted the wonderment of a real kebab he insisted I try one. These are certainly less fishy-sounding than hammed-cheese in a tube so I was a willing participant again, particularly after the first ultra-questionable food experience went so surprisingly well.

We found a legit kebab place in Putney, the biggest shopping area near the school, run by two Egyptian men. The place was empty minus the two of them but the place was cheery enough. It was brightly lit and had peachy orange walls. The two men spoke very broken English but they were very friendly, so much so that they asked if Jeppe and I were married! Frankly, I didn't think we gave off that vibe at all but I said as a means of clarification, “No, we've only known each other a week.” But apparently these men thought that meant, instead, that we are engaged and they couldn't be told otherwise; it just wasn't sinking in for some reason. 

They also told us all about Egypt and Cairo and how you can use camels, the animal not the cigarette, as currency. 

One camel is worth about £7,000, so they say. In fact, you can even purchase wives using camels as a fair trade. They guessed I would be worth about 100+ camels, which means about £7,000,000!!! Not too bad, not too bad. But that's beside the point because in addition to this extremely interesting conversation we also ate kebabs, I for the first time. Again, Jeppe was quite right. Amazingly good. Lamb with lettuce and cabbage and tomato and onions mixed with a few kinds of sauces all wrapped in a flat bread. Delicious, especially since it's served hot off the cooker on chilly nights.

Next time I'll tell y'all about another “first” in which I mistake a large deer for a cow.

Cheers.