April 24, 2013

I had to deal with another young bar at the bar this morning who knew nothing about my maniacal need for coffee as soon as I open my eyes. The hot plate had not been left in the bar and he had to go and get it from the housekeeper. I sat the coffeemaker in it and told him, as best as I could since he didn’t speak English, that I’d return in half hour for it.

About ten minutes later, he knocked on my door with the empty coffeemaker trying to say my coffee was already hot. I had to go back down two floors and get the thing going again until it actually percolating and coffee could be seen. The young man, Mohammed, couldn’t believe his eyes. After three trips just to get a decent cup of coffee, I felt my exercise for the day was done.

Elvira and I went down for breakfast, consisting of cream of wheat and some kind of sweet coffeecake, and then boarded the marshrutka to the school. I presented first again on the subject of critical thinking followed by Elvira on assessment.

We went back to have lunch at the same place we had done on Monday and while there was no line, the food was rather insipid this time around. I rushed back to the classroom to prepare the materials for my subsequent presentation on grammar games.

When we were finished, I was dying for good cup of coffee and Jyldyz sent us to find a place called “California” where she’d heard many ex-pats gathered to drink coffee. It took us a while to find it, but coffee was only the brewed kind and there wasn’t even any water at that time.

We were referred to another café, located inside an appliance store reeking of propane gas, where I was served coffee that albeit strong, didn’t have the taste of espresso. The burly man, who appeared to be the owner, seemed anxious to please me with his barista skills, but I couldn’t be fooled.

Elvira pleaded with me to go to the park with her prior to dinner at a Korean place recommended to us. We passed the usual kiddy rides and Elvira kept suggesting we ride some of them while I kept refusing telling her rides were not my thing. I finally caved in and rode the go-carts for a little while, but it was just the two of us in a ridiculously small space.

We then played some ping-pong at an outdoor table while men gawked at us since all the players showing off their prowess at the game around us were men.

The Korean restaurant had nothing in its décor to suggest it was so. The food was simply palatable and there were enough people smoking around us to force me to finish my food quickly and leave the place in a hurry.

We walked the rest of the way and once again it was bedtime before I even knew it.