So, it seems I’ve been blogging a lot lately. Maybe it’s due to me being in work-place limbo or because the weather is slowly warming and I’m able to think of little and big topics besides I’m freezing to death.
I looked through my past blogs and think I can certainly state that the season most assuredly affects a person’s mood and mindset here, if not everywhere. Here’s hoping with Spring making its way, these blogs won’t necessarily be so deep on the downer side of life.
I have a lot of upcoming topics such as: Novruz bayram (holiday) with pictures, Tbilisi Georgia with pictures, Writing Olympics, and my upcoming reunion with my 21st Microregion cluster with pictures. So, stay tuned! It’s going to be a busy couple weeks for me with travel, so I may be missing for a smidge.
To hold you over, though, and since I haven’t posted a picture in a while, here’s a few ways that us PCVs entertained ourselves in these past few cold months.
Oh, yeah, and, if you haven’t, watch Slumdog Millionaire. The good stuff in it is fueling my desire to go to India while here. And I am already missing the real March Madness.
I got a box from Heather yesterday and it was pretty exciting. My candy bag was running on empty, so, as soon as I opened her box, I knew that would no longer be the case. I had old –time favorites such as Now and Laters, Gobstoppers, Japanese gummies, Bazooka Joe bubble gum (I love the comics) and a box of a candy I never really ate before, Jujyfruits.
While writing letters an listening to music on a day in since I’m still trying to recover from my sickness, I decided to go ahead and open the Jujyfruits and give them a try. I picked one of every color: yellow, orange, green, red, and one questionable one that could either be dark purple or black. Feeling daring, I popped the one I was hoping was a purple color… grape?! No! Licorice! Why, in the world, would licorice be considered a fruit?
All the other flavors were what they were supposed to be or at least something logical: lemon, orange, lime, and cherry. But, no, the purple/black one had to be black and be licorice!
Now, I know I’m been called a picky person on several occasions, but there are a few food items I don’t think my taste buds will ever understand. Licorice, cilantro, mushrooms… The things I don’t like, I really don’t like, but I think my tastes have adjusted since being here and I do eat a lot of things I didn’t used to eat in America. But, I will not ever like licorice.
“After a well-balanced meal or for a well-deserved snack after school, you might want to grab a hand full of jellybeans. Don’t eat the black jellybeans. They taste disgusting. It’s just my opinion, but it’s true.” Fake The Office PSA. Same goes for black Jujyfuits. I’ll stick with red flavor.
I have amazing sitemates. One of whom, Bev, has turned me onto Yogi Green Tea. I live in a tea culture where there is tea, everywhere, all the time. This doesn’t sound all too shabby, but it’s crazy when the amount of tea I’ve drank in the past 6 months of my life has probably been more than I’ve drank in my entire life because one cup of tea per sitting is just not quite enough. I think my family, on average, drinks at least 12-15 cups of tea a day. And, oh, just in case you didn’t know, tea is the cure to everything (I’ve had to drink a lot more since I’ve been sick). But, here, it’s not just tea that’s the answer, it’s black tea; so, a cup of green tea is a welcome change (especially since that’s the one I prefer more than the other).
Anyways, back to Yogi tea… One day I was cooking at Bev’s house and she parted with an almost full box of teabags. To me, this idea of giving away such a great item was crazy! I later came to find out that that’s just the type of person Bev is, not just crazy, but crazy giving. I left the box there giving her a chance to wise up, but when I went back the next day, she offered it up once again saying I forgot it. I’ve since been using the tea bags on special occasions when I need a treat or simply a pick-up in taste and morale.
Morale? From tea bags? What? Well, that’s another special thing about Yogi teabags, each of them come with some kind of nice little inspirational message to help one get through their day. Every time I drink the tea, I save the message and put them into a little box Heather made for me before I left. The little box I keep all my little treasures, quotes being some of them.
It doesn’t matter if I agree with what all the message entails, each one of them is a surprise and are contemplated over a nice cup of hot green tea. So, for a different type of post, here’s some of the advice/reminders my tea gives me:
I love quotes, collecting them, posting them up, saving them. You’ll find them on my walls, in cards I make, in my wallet, pockets, “treasure” boxes all around. I hold onto fortune cookie fortunes, the box lids from California Raisins, newspaper clippings, blurbs from magazines. I’m a sentimental kind of gal who’s also a pack rat. For people like me, this tea is pretty cool.
*This blog is not sponsored by Yogi Tea.
