SharkAttack

This is probably as quintessentially 'study abroad' as it gets.
When you choose to go to a country where they speak a different language, you should expect to just not understand what's happening often. You are constantly told to have an open mind and try new things.

Three weeks in, I've been supercraving chicken. All I want is some meat. But, I'm not going to eat it on purpose.

I never ever expected to end up eating what I ate yesterday.

I sat down for lunch and was greeted by the incredible aroma of a bubbling pan of fish, tomato, and pesto. Yum, right?

When it landed on my plate, the fish was explained as 'delicioso - calzon."
K, not a calzone, but also not a translatable type of fish. Bacalao is cod. And that's about the only one I know.
I slice a chunk in half, hungrily. The texture looks meatier, thicker than other fish. I exclaim, "It really looks like chicken!" But Ana quickly persuades me that it's definitely a fish. Calzon, calzon.

So, I eat it. And it is so so yum. Because it has the texture of chicken. And I really was kind of getting sick of baked cod, oily tuna, and bagel-less lox on a steady rotation, even though her cooking is superb.

I enjoy the whole plate. Every last morsel of coated 'fish' with tomato-y pesto-y amazingness all over it. What a great lunch.

Until dinner. When I ask what that fish was called again? Calzon. With a 'Z.' It's still delicious, in her opinion. And still delicious in my opinion too. But still slightly skeptical.

Google is complicated here because the results are in Spanish. After the first google, I'm too shocked when I see that this 'calzon' may in fact be a breed of SHARK. I'm in complete disbelief. So I googletranslate. It's 'dogfish.' Yea. Uh. What?

So I google 'dogfish kosher?'
Answer: Nope. Because it's a type of SHARK.

I then wikipedia 'dogfish'.
My heart's racing. I'm bugging out...

Especially when the picture of a SHARK pops up. The kind you've seen in the aquarium. The little ones with round heads that they sometimes let you pet? THAT'S IN MY TUMMY.

My roommate's first thought: 'Oh, I thought you were freaking out because it wasn't kosher."

No. The heavenly G will forgive me. It was an accident. I had no way of knowing. Least of my concerns right now. THERE'S A SHARK THAT MIGHT AS WELL BE SWIMMING AROUND INSIDE ME!

After a solid half hour of 'OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod I ate a shark Ohmygod'-ing all over Facebook, Skype, and the house, I settle down.

Okay. Maybe I'm still a little crazy with the fact I ATE A SHARK by accident.

It's definitely a funny story. It's also definitely delicious. It's also definitely not kosher. No fins and scales there. Just JAWS. In my digestive system.

And I definitely have no clue what I'll do next time it ends up on my plate.