Me, I have missed coffee. Not chocolate, brought some. Not music. Got my headphones. Not books, brought a range from C. S. Lewis to The Day of the Jackal to Paradise Lost to Dorothy Sayers. But I miss coffee.
So earlier today I waddled up the hill to the nearby supermarket. Give it the size of one aisle in your local, make it dark, all in four short rows of shelves, and you have it. Funny, nowhere did I find chocolate, but I did seize on the coffee - simply called Nescaff - and brought the tin back to my room.
There was still one more problem. Jennifer is a sweet 16 year-old who has been assigned to me. She brings my meals and takes them away, brings oranges and tins of evaporated milk, reminds me that the electricity is on and I don't need to use my flashlight. She speaks English and so do I, but mostly, we do not understand each other. That is clear.
The problem I was facing with the coffee was the hot water. They drink a lot of tea, as do I. With my first cup I was reminded of African tea - it comes with ginger in the water. Always.
This afternoon I tried to ask for plain water, knowing that the amazing jugs they use here will keep it near boiling until tomorrow morning when I plan my first cup. The water came. I made tea. Ginger tea.
No matter. Tomorrow morning at the time for coffee, around 10, I'll mix my Nescaff with my ginger water and will thoroughly enjoy it.
Reminds me of the first trek in Nepal when we took bad water, added iodine which purified and flavored, and then Gatorade powder to render it almost pleasant. But that was a long time ago, before blogs.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment