But here’s the thing: coffee is available everywhere—and often, for free (Starbucks notwithstanding). Churches offer it; my oil-changing place back home offers it; for crying out loud, even my dentist offers it, and you’d think they’d despise people drinking such teeth-staining stuff.
One summer during college, I drank a LOT of coffee, but again, mainly that was because I was cheap. I worked for a patent attorney, and one of my main jobs was to make sure there was an extremely fresh pot of coffee at all times. I was pretty poor and I hated to waste pretty much anything, so he and his clients would have a cup or two, and I drank the rest—black—all day long! I’m talking 15 cups a day, easy. I figured I was hooked for sure, but in the Fall when I went back to ACU, nary a cup of joe passed my lips.
But here in Uruguay things are different… old people and young people alike drink mate (pronounced MOTT-ay), often many cups a day. It's a culturally distinctive thing similar to the tea ceremonies of Japan--there are
special cups you use made from a gourd (also called a mate), fill it all the way with mate leaves which look exactly like dried grass clippings, pour in your hot water, and slurp it through a straw that kind of looks like a spoon. The whole process looks mildly like everyone is sharing drugs through a bong, but the slurping gives the whole thing away. Sadly, I think I would prefer it to be drugs. Why? If you know me AT ALL, you know I hate slurping or smacking sounds; actually, they make me completely nuts. Thus, so far the whole sharing the mate experience isn't one I think I'll import home for keeps.I’ll tell you another coffee story tomorrow, this one about what a perfect mother I am (ha!).
10 comments:
How do you know about bongs and drugs and stuff?
You have to ask a child of the 60s and 70s who grew up in the Philippines if she ever heard about drugs?!
And we were going to invite you to drink mate once you got back! We drink it all the time, actually, but we avoid the nasty sounds. I don't care for those much either.
GauchoGourmet.com, where we buy our yerba, used to have a nice page on how to drink mate, but I couldn't find it.
Tina commented about the milk in a bag; how's that working for you?
Grace and peace,
Tim
I guess I wouldn't do very well there since I despise coffee. Some places don't use ice in their drinks. Do they have ice? I love my large water with extra ice from Chicken E! It keeps me from drinking things I shouldn't.
Anyway, I'm glad you guys got their safely and are already having those wonderful "culture experiences." Keep us posted!
Hooray! You're blogging! We love a good chuckle from you in the morning... it just starts the day off great! Kurt wants to try the mate in exchange for jerky(since your in the meat market)...What is your mailing address? Maybe it will get there before you return, if we send it now. Love you!
We are going to have a mate drinking party in the chem department some time soon. I figure it is time to introduce a drink that tastes like bitter green bean juice. :)
Hi Tim! We'll come for the fun of getting together with you guys anyway! Krista is falling for mate, I have to say; we'll see how that goes as the semester goes on.
Tina, by the way, is an absolutely wonderful young lady. We are loving getting to know her!
Peace,
Karen
Hi Beth! No, you wouldn't like the absolute dirth of ice around here. I get the feeling that most drinks were consumed room temp before the advent of more and more sodas, which are often found refrigerated, but I've only had ice one time in the last week--and I love ice! But we are privileged to have a teeny-tiny fridge in our apartment, and I keep our drinks in there ice cold--hooray!
Tim, you asked about the milk-in-a-bag (sort of like soap-on-a-rope). The milk Raquel buys tastes pretty good, and, even though the milk is in a kinda floppy bag, what they do is put the whole bag in a little plastic pitcher, tear a corner of the bag, and then pour. Works great!
hmm, slurping sounds, brown people - are you having PI flashbacks?
By the way, as a rule of thumb, eating anything that starts with the word "blood" just sounds like a bad idea. Go read Leviticus again. Yuk.
I'm with you, Karen. the slurping noises would be enough to drive me to drugs. What's with us sisters and being the diet coke/not coffee girls and the "I'm going to stick a needle in my (or yours) if you keep that slurping and smacking up." There is some sort of irritant gene, perhaps. Seriously, I was being such a David in class the other night when this girl behind me was playing a game of "how much irritating little crinkling noises can I make with one single candy wrapper" followed by a round of "how many suck/smack/slurp sounds can I make with one jolly rancher?" - I turned around a looked right at her just like David would have. She was oblivious in her own smacking self, of course, but it gave me satisfaction. I have so many memories of David and his "rat boy" encounters in movies... love to all - karla
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