Desperate Serbwife

Now I get it

We've all heard stories about the "olden days" when children where excited to get a orange in the stocking from Santa. I know that I used to hear these stories and be totally confused about why any child would be excited about an orange - I mean, I could just go to the fridge and get one. Well, living in Belgrade has given me a better perspective on the excitement that can come from the smallest food item.

One day, when I was in the market buying some lettuce from my favorite lettuce guy, he asked if I wanted some other little leafy thing. As we can't actually communicate through words, he held up the little bunch of leafy stuff and asked me to smell it. CILANTRO!!!! Ohmygod, I had been dying to find cilantro and here it was!! It was like Christmas! And when Mike came home, I made him smell it too and we both jumped up and down all giddy that I had finally found cilantro.

My other orange in the stocking moment came last week when I finally got to go the US Embassy commissary. It really was like Christmas morning walking through the little commissary and seeing all the foods that were familiar to me! But the real moment came when I spotted a little fridge with Dr. Pepper inside. Oh, Dr. Pepper, I have missed you!!! I never knew so much happiness could come from a soda!

So, as our mother's can attest, the only things on our Christmas lists are the little foods that mean so much but are not available to us here. And I can honestly say that I now understand why an orange was so special to children in the "olden days."

posted by Brooke @ 6:56 AM