Some Pictures of the Past Couple of Months

In the past two months I have tried to take more pictures; however, I still feel like I haven't taken as many as I could!  The culture here and the people doesn't lend itself to taking pictures that easily, and often when the camera comes out I'm either mobbed or told to put it away.....oh well, I have tried and I will continue to :).  One of the things I have been doing a lot of in the past couple of months is hanging out at a local tea house .  Here coffee shops are called tea houses even though their main beverage served is coffee not tea.  They call them tea houses because when you call something a coffee shop you are usually talking about a place that is more akin to a brothel or strip club not a Starbucks!  Crazy I know.....you say lets go to the tea house for coffee and to the coffee house for beer.  I do not understand, but sometimes it is just better not to try! 

The reason I've been hanging out in this tea house is for language purposes.  In these tea houses you sit around and talk to the ladies making the coffee, and it is great practice for language and relationship building.  Here the whole process for coffee goes something like this:

1. Buy the coffee while it's still green (yes, before roasting, coffee beans are green)
2. Pick through the beans for rocks, dirt, spoiled beans etc.
3. Wash the beans in water to get other dirt and rocks to cpme off or to come to the surface.
4. Pour the beans in a small metal pan, made especially for coffee roasting, and hold it over the fire, which you prepared and lit before you started cleaning the beans.
5.  Some people use a metal stick to push the beans back and forth as they roast the beans over the fire; others just hold the pan over the fire and shake it occassionally to keep the beans from burning.
6.  Once the beans are nice and dark brown, you pass the pan around to everyone sitting in the tea house and they waft the smell of the roasting beans to their faces and breathe deeply.
7.  Then you pour the beans into what is the equivalent of a mortar.
8. You take a heavy metal stick and began pounding/grinding the beans by hand.
9.  Once you have the achieved consistency of coffee powder......
10 You take the powder and pour it into the traditional coffee pot or jebina, you pour some water in there, and set it on the fire and let it brew.
11.  Then you put two tiny teaspoons full of sugar into macchiato sized cups and pour the coffee into each cup until it's overflowing.
12.  If you are truly national you began slurping while the coffee is burning hot.

Recently I had the opportunity to do this process on my own while my language helper looked on and helped or corrected my mistakes....apparently I am not strong enough to pound the coffee into a fine enough powder!  The next week she took me to a market in her area of the city and she helped me buy a jebina, a pan for roasting, and a metal stick for pushing the beans back and forth while the beans roast.

In between all that you have great chances to talk and practice language.....believe it or not!
Coffee is a big part of life here in the birthplace of the worldwide popular beverage.  Below you will see pictures of the different stages I talk about.  The first three pictures are of the tea house I have been visiting.  The lady pouring is a Sister, and she has a strainer in the cup to catch the larger grounds, but that is not typical....usually your third cup of coffee (because usually you drink 3 with each visit), you "eat" part of it too :).  The second picture is of my language helper on the right and the tea shop owner's sister on the left.  The third picture is me and the tea shop owner after we had a full on coffee ceremony with popcorn to eat, to celebrate me finishing the 2nd phase of language.  The last three pictures are as follows:  1. Grinding coffee.  2. Brewing coffee. 3. And the finished roasted product in the pan before grinding or pounding.

So I guess this post is more about coffee than anything else!  That means you'll get more posts this month! 

Please pr for me as I go and visit this tea shop and meet more people.  Pr also that I will be able to go and visit my neighbour across the street, who has invited me for tea/coffee.  Pr that I would be able to speak and He would give me the right words.


The language helper/teacher you see in this picture is a strong Sister.  Pr for her as she continues to share in many different venues and ways, and pr for our friendship to grow.  She is no longer my teacher as there have been some new people arrive, and she is working with them right now. 

Now I have two new language helpers, and I ask for you to pr for my patience and attitude with them.  Pr especially for one of my teachers who has two sons who are currently suffering from typhoid.



Serving Him with You (where ever I am),

Rachel