A few mornings ago I was afraid of lacking concentration skills for the lectures, thanks to lacking in sleep in the previous night(s). It was a day of multiple lectures, and I am not the kind to sleep during lessons, or distract others, for that matter. Aware of my sleep deficit then, I told myself to turn to some caffeine lest I really dozed off.
Conveniently, I stopped by Gloria Jean's on the way to class, to take away a drink there. Something definitely out of the norm, personally. Browsing through the menu for the first time in my life, I quickly picked something as I felt uneasy being the only customer there because it was still quite early. You can say that I did not wish to let the bartender know I was inexperienced in drinking coffee. So I ordered an espresso, because the name sounded nice. Oh, also because the actors drank it in one of the American TV series I watched and still remember. However, just moments after paying for the espresso I had something else to remember, maybe for the rest of my life! The taste of that drink was horrible! Felt like an idiot for pretending to be over cleverly health-conscious, by attempting to have the espresso without any sugar. For a good few hours, that taste was vivid and causing nausea; albeit having added some sugar to the drink eventually.
Yesterday I tried going to a different cafe. This time to sit down to some lazy afternoon time alone. No more rushing and certainly no classes to attend. I ordered a simple coffee instead, being fearful of another unpleasant experience. And I didn't know if it was a good thing or bad- the coffee, creamer and sugar came seperately. Therefore I took small sips whilst carefully experimenting with the additives. Ordered a slice of chocolate cake with hazelnuts to compensate for the bitter tastes of coffee. Now, I would be dishonest to say I enjoyed the coffee yesterday. Nevertheless I had a good time- reading a book, quitely, in spite of all the noises; that cafe was in a buzy mall on a Sunday evening, and it rained. By the way, the cafe was also kind enough to provide free-flow of cold drinking water! Am grateful for that.
This, I went to the college canteen and bought teh-O. And it was good.
I am really just an ordinary teh-O person. A guy with no such money to splurge on fancy drinks at fancy cafes everyday. Teh-O from a neighbourhood coffee shop, though simple but can be more satisfying to me than all the espressos, latte and expensive teas in the world. Looks like I will not be comfortable living in a higher social class than the one I was born, raised and still am in right now. Why should people struggle so hard just to move up higher? Worse still, why do some people feel ashamed of where they came from; when there is nothing wrong with where they came from?
Society is such that I do not understand. Yet I am just as fallen.
