03 August, 2009

I'd like a large Buzz coffee please!

Not only wanting to post when things are exciting - I will admit that I am in a wee bit of a mini-breakdown at the moment. We will call this Nyagatare meltdown #1 aka the honeymoon is over.

I am three weeks in and it's hitting. I remember being in Ecuador about this length and being ready to go home. Only home is at least 13 weeks away, which is fine, I don't necessarily want to be home. It is starting to sink in that I am living in a different culture. I don't speak the language, I don't know how to wash my clothes in a bucket with a bar of soap, I want to brush my teeth without having to bring a water bottle. The rules here are murky for me. I just want something familiar and comfortable.

One of the best things I brought was a coffee press. I am a coffee addict, more for the taste than the caffeine. One thing I learned in Ecuador is I will not live on instant coffee again. That stuff is gross! Even the guesthouse made it - the one place I expected a coffeepot and some good coffee. So I have the coffee press and got some sugar from the store now all I needed was some coffee. I mean, this is the land of 1,000 coffee hills, right? I should be able to find some ground, real coffee. Fortunately I found some before leaving Kigali.

I went down to the bathroom and got some water, boiled it for a bit.  Dumped some coffee grounds into the coffee press and waited while it all seeped together. Being that there is no refrigeration and a serious lack of cream (oh how I miss flavored creamer!)  I was forced to compensate with raw sugar.

It tastes a bit like tar but at least it's coffee. I do adore African tea, but at this moment I need to be able to smell the coffee, I need something that feels like home and this badly brewed coffee is just the thing.