Arabica

I didn't have too much trouble with jet-lag, really.  I arrived on a Thursday night, and after picking up the dogs, Bobbi and I both came home and crashed into bed around 2 am.  The next day we got up relatively early because we had errands to run.  We had things to do every weekend day for the first two weekends I was here, and I had a list of things to accomplish during the day that kept me busy and productive.  Every night I would go to bed at a reasonable time and sleep through the night, maybe waking up here and there, but nothing big.

The really amazing thing for me is that I did that without the benefit of having coffee!  Back in the States, during the school year, I would bring a huge thermos of coffee with me to school every day and drink most of it.  Between my initial cup and my thermos I would drink almost a pot of coffee a day.  I would drink it black and I loved dark roast, I wanted to peer into my cup and feel the gravity of the coffee preventing light from escaping.  When I took a sip I wanted to taste the bite and smoke of beans that had been nearly burned and pulled from the roaster seconds before bursting into flame.  Over the summer the amount of coffee I consumed dwindled, both because it was hot and drinking hot coffee wasn't as pleasant as it is in winter, but also because my schedule loosened up and I didn't need to be up and at 'em at 5:30 anymore, but I still loved the taste and idea of the occasional coffee.

Here in the UAE, tea is a much more common beverage than coffee.  You can find whole aisles in the grocery stores dedicated to it, then at the end they'll have a couple little bags of coffee to choose from.  I learned the hard way that half of those little bags of coffee have cardamom in them, which I find to be terribly distasteful.  Picture a 4-year-old girl tasting whiskey for the first time and that will approximate the facial reaction I had to drinking cardamom coffee.

So, I went back to the store and bought a bag of the same brand of coffee, since I do tend to like Arabicas and it was either Najjar or Foldgers instant.  This time, though, I made sure to get one without cardamom.  This coffee is very tasty.  It is a relatively dark roast, doesn't taste like hair will spontaneously begin sprouting on your chest and tongue, but still darkish, and it's very smooth.  It is extremely finely ground, and when I'm using my French press I still get a fair amount of remnants in my mug when I'm done that look like the sludge left over from having a Turkish coffee.  

The problem is, I can't sleep anymore.  I don't know if it's because we're starting to get settled in and there are fewer and fewer things that need done, so I don't feel like I'm running all day and until I collapse into bed, or if it's this coffee!  I drink one French press, which yields two cups, between 9 and 10 am and when I go to bed at night I end up getting back up and playing around on my computer because my mind zips along at warp speed and I can't shut it off.  It seems crazy to think that, after being so inundated with caffeine for so long, having two cups of this stuff would keep me awake for over 14 hours.  I just can't believe that!

I've got a car now, so I'm going to try to find a job after this coming week.  Hopefully I'll be teaching soon.  If not I'm going to start focusing more on my art.  I packed my paints and some canvas boards, my sketch pad and pencils and a few books.  I also want to drive around and take pictures because the landscape here is completely amazing!  And I want to totally rewrite the draft of the novel I wrote a few years ago, give it some more punch and some more structure.  Plus, Bobbi and I are going to start walking every evening around the complex a few times, and the fitness center and pool for our villas is finished now, so I have plenty to keep me busy, really!  I might just need to keep the coffee flowing once I get all this started!