Thursday Lunch

I was planning on Thursday being a relaxing afternoon where I could sit in my kitchen and work on lesson plans. A few minutes after I sat down, one of my adult students (who is learning English for the first time) came to my house. She said something about her husband's cousins from Denmark were here in Padina and they spoke English. She said "come," so I followed. She took me down the street to another house, which happened to be the house of one of my other students. My two students are not related, but their husbands are both cousins with the people from Denmark.

Anyway, I got to talk to a woman from Denmark for about three hours. Her husband's parents were from Padina, so they were just here visiting family. She was a really nice lady. Neither of us spoke any Serbian or Slovak, so it was nice being able to speak in English. I saw that they were getting ready to have lunch, so I tried to excuse myself, but my students really wanted me to say. I just couldn't say no, so I had a quick lunch with them. (I had to leave early because of classes). My students know that I am vegetarian, so she told me the soup was vegetarian. I tried to ask if it was cooked in chicken broth but she said again that there was no meat in the soup. As soon as I tasted the soup, I knew something was different. I didn't want o be rude so I didn't ask again and just ate it. The next day when I came into class, she asked me right away if I felt sick. I said no and asked why. She told me that she forgot she had cooked chicken bones and skin in the soup for flavoring. (She took them out before it was served) She felt really bad, but I told her it was OK and not to worry. If this is the first time in like 14 years I had some type of chicken product, I guess that's not too bad. I'm just glad I have been able to avoid almost everything else so far! Luckily Liljana makes wonderful vegetarian soups!