Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cuppa Joe

In case you were keeping track, it is 114F at 12:30pm. Peak temps usually occur around 2pm so we've still got a few degrees to go.

Humidity is very low at 8.4%. It is so dry that you can feel the moisture sucking out of your lungs with every breath. Still, the dogs need their exercise. I took them to the jebels yesterday at 5:45pm--it was only 104F then, dropping down to about 101F by the time we were heading back to the car 45 minutes later. They do slow down a lot by the end of our walk but I've always got cool water waiting for them at the car.

I thought I would write a post about our local barista. Yes, we have baristas in Aramco. There are coffee kiosks scattered around all of the buildings. They are the real deal--commercial espresso machines with good quality coffee and an assortment of different choices of coffee drinks.

The barista in our building has his domain two floors down. He's a little tiny Indian guy who always moves at blurring speeds. His most amazing talent is that once you order from him, and it only takes that one time, he remembers you and your order. There have to be hundreds of people, westerners and Saudis, who visit his station every day but he manages to keep it all straight.

My officemate Jenny and I usually go down there together in the mornings about an hour into the workday. Our little barista will see us come out of the stairwell, cheerily greet us, and with no other words exchanged, will hand us our cups in no time at all.

Sure, this entire system is predicated on our ordering the same thing every day. Woe to you if you want something different! But the path of least resistance is to just go along for the ride.

There are other benefits to this arrangement as well. If you are a couple of riyals short, no worries. You can pay him the next time you drop by. If you only have a hundred riyal note and it's too early in the morning or too busy for him to make change, he just waves you on with your coffee--you can pay him later. My order is a medium cappuccino that costs 8 riyals. Of course, every third or fourth time, I leave a ten-riyal note behind, no change needed. Tipping is not as common here in KSA as in other places but in this case, it seems like the right thing to do.

3 comments:

Rover Mom said...

We've had our own little heat wave here - it hit 104 yesterday in the 'burg and with humidity it "felt like" 113. UGH. Needless to say, no herding this weekend. Despite the heat, crash still wanted to play frisbee - the advantage being shade and quasi-green grass in the field. We spend most days indoors - although I did have to run some errands yesterday and my car took 20 minutes to cool off.

Agile Jack said...

Portland is having a little heat wave too. It was about 90 today! Took the dogs to an earthdog fun day. The tunnels were nice and cool. they had a blast, and it was really good for me to get out in the heat and sun with a fabulous breeze. I can't imagine temps like you've got. Isn't the sand hot under the dogs' feet?

lilspotteddog said...

The sand does get hot but it cools quickly once the sun is no longer directly over it. By the time we head out (530pm or so) it isn't bad at all. Asphalt parking lots and streets are far worse on their sensitive feet. I avoid those as much as possible.

When I am home, I keep the AC set to a rather cool 70 deg (I don't pay for it). The dogs don't like it that cold. On the weekends when we duck out for a quick potty run, the dogs just love to stretch out in grass in the baking sun. Sometimes they even hang out on the patio in the middle of the day (no grass, no shade) for 10-15 minutes until they are both panting.

Their tolerance and preferences of temperature overlap with mine but they obviously prefer it warmer.