8/18/11

Thursday I woke up early to go and watch how cheese is made.  I was pretty excited about this.  I went with John, who is a friend of Tiin and Daniela's from the US, and one of his baseball players Ryan, who is visiting for two weeks.  It was about a twenty minute drive and we arrived at the house before 8am.  It was Jose's parents' house and Jose is affiliated with the Wil Devils.

There is a whole process involved with cheese-making, as you can imagine, and we were able to watch pretty much the whole thing.  After showing the three of us around, we ate breakfast with Franz and Veronika, Jose's parents.  It was very good and then it was time for more work.

Franz had a big vat that stirred liquid, that would soon become cheese, for over and hour.  Then, he transported it through hoses into another machine where the water was sucked out and then it started taking shape.  We helped cut the big solid into squares and put them into cylinders.  It is very hard to explain, probably because I did not understand the entirety of what was happening, but I took pictures of course.

After we watched all of that, Veronika took us to the school that Jose went to when he was younger and John, Ryan, and I played a game with the kids in the classroom for a few minutes.  When we walked back to the house, Franz and Veronika took us into the cellar and showed us where the cheese is stored after it is the proper shape and size.  Everything was really cool.

Around 11am, we arrived back at Jose's house and John and I played pool until lunch was ready.  It was ostrich, lamb, chicken, cervelas, potatoes, and salad.  Then the four of us headed to the school that Jose teaches at and played baseball with his PE class.  On the way there, I rode with Jose on his motorcycle.  It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun playing outside.

Everything is so simple and beautiful here.  I absolutely love it.  The people know what is truly important.  For instance, after the baseball class, Jose watered down a patch of grass until it was soaking wet and had sliding practice for the boys.  John, Ryan, and I just sat there and laughed because there were so many "safety hazards" that could be found in this activity, but the kids were just having fun!  We talked about how that is the kind of stuff that you remember doing when you were younger once you grow up and how important it is that a person has those memories.  I told Jose that he would have been my favorite PE teacher, other than my Aunt Janet of course :-)

After that, John and Ryan brought me back to the farm and I got ready for pitching practice.  Roman took me and Chanti, Jrene, and I threw for about an hour.  I got back home and showered and then John, Roman, Ryan, Charlie from the baseball team, and I went out for a drink.  I had a wonderful day and night and then headed to bed.