For about 7 or 8 months last year, a few of my friends and I met almost every Sunday to study Indonesian at a Starbucks not quite downtown. We stopped over the summer with people traveling and me deciding I wanted to refocus my language-time on the French that I could tell was slowly slipping away.
There was this...I don't know...family? that used to meet there every Sunday. I usually got there an hour before my friends to read and they were always there before me and almost stayed until we left if not later. They were only two men and a child, but maybe old friends with one who always brought his son or, more what it looked like, his grandson. I'm not sure what language they spoke, but whatever they said, you knew it was funny by how often they laughed.
After a few weeks, I admit that I would sometimes get slightly irritated, particularly when it was just me studying or reading. I know, I was voluntarily going to a public place to study, but almsot everyone else there was studying, reading or watching the close-captioned television. But at the same time, it was nice and my irritation usually diminished. When I was still in California, my friend and I used to go to the same Starbucks for the same drink at least once or twice a week to blow of mid-term and paper steam. I miss that.
So last weekend my friends and I decided to try meeting up again. I'd like to start class again, but will be taking French now on the same night. I walk in early and sit down, when I see a familiar looking kid run past me to the other end fo the Starbucks and then come running back. My first thought, to be honest, is "oh Lord, come on! My mother would have had a fit had I gone running throughout restaurants and cafes (assuming Starbucks was around 20 years ago)." (Side note: as an adult, I appreciate so much what my parents had to put up with...what any parent has to put up with).
When my eyes follow this kid, I see the two older men and recognition dawns. About eight months after I'd last seen them, there they were. Same time, same place, same people. I had to wonder, had they been coming here every Sunday since I was last there? Every Sunday for eight months? At the same time?
Doesn't that get boring? Even in California when I spent so much time studying in cafes, I had to vary it up slightly. Maybe sit outside one day, and then go to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf another day, then maybe over to Riverside for an evening, or to the only 2am Starbucks we knew of in the area. But maybe that's the only time they get a chance to get together and catch up during the week. Maybe that's the only time these old friends can chat in which case the surrounding doesn't matter.
I think they were there today, although I didn't get a chance to sit and study the other patrons. My Starbucks, alas, was packed and I just got my coffee and came home, my face going numb on the walk back. Even though I love walking in the cold with my steaming vanilla latte, and the warmth each sip provides as it sears the inside of my throat, I'm looking forward to it being warmer again and the outside patio is again an option.
Sunshine I miss you.
There was this...I don't know...family? that used to meet there every Sunday. I usually got there an hour before my friends to read and they were always there before me and almost stayed until we left if not later. They were only two men and a child, but maybe old friends with one who always brought his son or, more what it looked like, his grandson. I'm not sure what language they spoke, but whatever they said, you knew it was funny by how often they laughed.
After a few weeks, I admit that I would sometimes get slightly irritated, particularly when it was just me studying or reading. I know, I was voluntarily going to a public place to study, but almsot everyone else there was studying, reading or watching the close-captioned television. But at the same time, it was nice and my irritation usually diminished. When I was still in California, my friend and I used to go to the same Starbucks for the same drink at least once or twice a week to blow of mid-term and paper steam. I miss that.
So last weekend my friends and I decided to try meeting up again. I'd like to start class again, but will be taking French now on the same night. I walk in early and sit down, when I see a familiar looking kid run past me to the other end fo the Starbucks and then come running back. My first thought, to be honest, is "oh Lord, come on! My mother would have had a fit had I gone running throughout restaurants and cafes (assuming Starbucks was around 20 years ago)." (Side note: as an adult, I appreciate so much what my parents had to put up with...what any parent has to put up with).
When my eyes follow this kid, I see the two older men and recognition dawns. About eight months after I'd last seen them, there they were. Same time, same place, same people. I had to wonder, had they been coming here every Sunday since I was last there? Every Sunday for eight months? At the same time?
Doesn't that get boring? Even in California when I spent so much time studying in cafes, I had to vary it up slightly. Maybe sit outside one day, and then go to Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf another day, then maybe over to Riverside for an evening, or to the only 2am Starbucks we knew of in the area. But maybe that's the only time they get a chance to get together and catch up during the week. Maybe that's the only time these old friends can chat in which case the surrounding doesn't matter.
I think they were there today, although I didn't get a chance to sit and study the other patrons. My Starbucks, alas, was packed and I just got my coffee and came home, my face going numb on the walk back. Even though I love walking in the cold with my steaming vanilla latte, and the warmth each sip provides as it sears the inside of my throat, I'm looking forward to it being warmer again and the outside patio is again an option.
Sunshine I miss you.
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