What more can you ask for?

than a piece of bread and a packet of instant coffee mix? How did I reach this point where I ahve almost forgotten about $5 iced soy caramel macchiatos and now rejoice when I get a full serving of "3 in 1 instant coffee mix"? I'm not sure where to begin my story, but I think I should preface it with the fact that I regularly drank iced soy lattes for the past few years. They were in my blood, that is until i came to Vanuatu.

My coffee addiction came to a halt when I was placed in a village of decout Seventh Day ADventists. They don't drink any caffeinated product so there goes coffee and tea. We did drink the occasional what i like to call Hot Sugar Milk which consisted of powdered milk and sugar mixed together with hot water. It's a lot better than it sounds. For quite awhile it was my beverage of choice. Then one "cold" night I was sleeping a little ways up the side of the volcano. THe next day we'd be getting up early to climb to the top. I hadn't been that cold since I'd arrived in the tropics. Our host graciously gave us mugs, a thermos of hot water, and some sugar. THat was when i learned to appreicate Hot Sugar Water. (Just as a side note they call all hot beverages tea, so if you come and they offer you tea, you should probably expect Hot Sugar Water). I downed cup after cup that cold night before climbing the volcano.

When i moved to my new island, i was living amongst Presbyterians. They love to drink sugar water. Everyday at least twice a day I drink a cup of sugar. When we're lucky, we have brown sugar which is tastier than white sugar. On the occasion we'll mix the sugar with a lemon leaf or orange leaf. But then, I discovered the store sells 3 in 1 Instant Coffee Mix. Which is sigar, coffee, and milk all in one. Apparently Presbyterians don't have a ban on caffeine. When it's in stock, we drink it all the time. but since the household has like 8 people we can't afford to buy a packet for everyone. Typically 2 or 3 packets will be divided amongst everyone and then extra sugar will be added. A typical breakfast is a third of a packet of instant coffee with some Breakfast Crackers.

What are Breakfast Crackers? I guess the best equivalent would be matzah, unleavend bread eaten at the time of Passover. It's basically just dry, tasteless, cardboard. We break them up and put them in the tea and eat them with a spoon. On the rare occasion someone will make bread. There's no butter or toasting of the bread involved, but just the fresh off the fire bread makes my day. ANd if I get a full packet of coffee intestead of a third, well I just don't know what else I could ask for.