abbey abroad :)

Something you probably don't know about Macedonia (if you know anything about Macedonia): Coffee is a huge part of their culture. They drink it all the time. It's not uncommon to have three cups of coffee when you visit a friend--a welcome coffee, a conversation coffee, and a goodbye coffee. Crazy, right? It makes it sound like Macedonia is full of hyped-up people with twitchy eyes and really brown teeth.

I, however, am not much of a coffee drinker. I enjoy the occasional Starbucks (white mocha, hello!), but I never make any at home. And if I ever do have plain coffee... I add a whole lot of sweet stuff. My goal for these 8 weeks at FPO: Become a coffee person. A real coffee person. Because, sure, I could just carry around my own French vanilla creamer and inconspicuously add it to my mug, but I think the Macedonians might notice when their coffee is black and mine is... brownish-beige. So allow me to share my coffee-darkening strategy with you.

Stage 1: (Completed.) During the first week of FPO, drink coffee during the first session each morning, adding as much creamer as necessary to make the coffee delicious. (6 little creamer cups--4 cinnamon and 2 French vanilla. Delectable! I should be a barista.)

Stage 2: (In progress.) During week two of FPO, decrease the number of creamer cups used in coffee by one. (Still delicious.)

Stage 3: (Daunting.) Each week, continue to decrease the number of creamers used by one until I am using only one creamer.

Stage 4: Final week--add no creamers to coffee... but compensate with sugar packets.

So there you have it--my plan to accomplish my goal of becoming a grown-up coffee drinker. The next time you see me, I will likely have developed coffee-stained teeth and a caffeine addiction. This seems backwards.