A good cup of joe

 What's up, folks? I trust all is well. My apologies for the disappearance. Just trying to have a good summer (and failing miserably). But hey, no excuses, right? So....where do I begin.....??

 Anybody ever enjoy MacGyver? I did. I loved that show with a passion that could only be described as obsessive, were it not for the fact that I was a 9-year-old with way too much time on his hands and way too much freedom with the T.V. remote. Like the rest of the fan base, I was amazed by how the protagonist could take regular household items and turn them into lord knows what. Of course, seeing that inspired me to attempt similar endeavors, which resulted in quite a few trips to the emergency room. I guess that'll teach to let my brother shave my head with a razor blade, whipped cream, a pencil and 5 kgs worth of gauze. But sometimes, you gotta "MacGyver" some stuff and sometimes, it turns out just right. 

 Despite repeated labeling as "Eritrean", there're have been certain aspects of my culture that I couldn't warm up to. An example of which has been our traditional coffee ceremony. It stemmed from the fact that I was never really much of a coffee drinker to begin with. Plus, the ceremony in itself can be an ordeal for some, including myself. Combine that with the little odds and ends that are thrown in and suddenly you have the worst excuse to drink coffee ever.....or so I thought.

 Let's turn back the clock to about 2 years ago. In an attempt to quit smoking, I stopped cold turkey and decided to substitute that with anything I could find, until the least damaging substitute was coffee, which I never had a taste for. However, after several months, it became as addictive to me as anything else. I mean, I literally can not function with the caffeine kick that coffee, or as I like the call it, "the sweet, sweet nectar of the almighty" gives me. Seriously, I'd beat up an old man if he was standing between me and my first cup. And, like any coffee drinker, I developed a taste for it. 

 Eritrean coffee or boun, in the native tongue, is a thick form of the drink, with an overwhelming aroma and a long-lasting taste. And no, this is not some cheesy advertisement for east African coffee brews. It's simply a statement of fact. Besides, you all should be so lucky to experience it. 

 Now, the Eritrean coffee ceremony is a unique experience to any novice and a staple of the Eritrean culture, usually involving a large group. It starts with a person grabbing fresh coffee beans and roasting them over an open charcoal fire, or whatever substitute you can find in your neck of the woods. An element of this is to carry the roasting coffee beans from the fire and carry it around the room, allowing others to bask in the thick aroma of it and voice their approval. Once they are roasted, you grind them manually or using a device suited for it. Then, you pour the coffee into a clay coffeepot called a Jebena, pouring in water and boiling it over the aforementioned fire. Now, the key in this scenario is to continually boil it, even after it boils over. You simply catch it into a waiting cup, pour it back in again and continue, repeating as many times as necessary. After several instances of it boiling over. When done, you pour them into tiny cups and serve them, along with burning incense (for that truly "ethnic" scent), any assortment of treats and popcorn (which we pretty much use for any joyous occasion). It truly is an affair to be had.

 Now, I mention this because I was in the mood for some. However, being somewhat out of my element, I had no idea how to actually proceed. To make a long story short, I "MacGyvered" Eritrean traditional coffee, using certain nick-nacks at home and cheap substitutes. And while I will not go into the gory details of this, I will admit that, despite initial reservations, it came out better than expected.

 In the grand scheme of things, it was an eye-opener to the elements of my culture that I had been missing out on. The sense of community, the interaction, the casual excitement that one has when waiting for something truly wonderful. And by opening myself up to it now, albeit in a controlled environment, I had opened myself up to something truly wonderful, despite the fact that it was a self-discovery that I made alone. 

 I guess in the end, I taught myself something without truly realizing it. That you don't need to travel thousands of miles in order to achieve self-discovery. Sometimes, self-discovery is right on your door-step. Sometimes, self-discovery is just a cup of coffee away. So, bottom's up, folks.