When you visit a coffee shop, do you have an activity that you enjoy doing while there?

As far as I'm concerned, nothing beats an interesting and nice conversation over a cup of delicious coffee, but there are so many other things we do.

Other than my husband at home, my three sisters continue to be my great coffee companions. We often get together to have coffee and play Scrabble, but this doesn't happen in a coffee shop. If we are outside our houses, things change. For example, this time I was signing the diplomas of two former students who took some of my Lit courses.

A few days ago, I met them at La Pannettería, a coffee shop in HíperGalerías, a shopping mall located very close to downtown, popularly known also as Traki.

I must say I only share with my students outside our classes after they have graduated, which makes our coffee time really special.

This place is very busy, not only because it is nice and pretty--and with clean bathrooms--but because the city is dangerous and you feel vulnerable in its streets. Here you feel much safer--and cooler; the heat is intense outside.

It was about 3 p.m. We decided to sit inside where it was even cooler.

For as long as I can remember visiting a coffee shop, there are only three things I remember doing there:

1. reading (a book, the newspaper, mostly),
2. writing my shopping list , and
3. meeting with former students who have just graduated to sign their diplomas.

The first one became a stigma in 2015. I could never read in a coffee shop again. I would like to tell happy stories of my city, but this is not one. The years 2015 and 2016 were very difficult in my country and more so in my city (Cumaná), where poverty has always been rampant and proliferating. During these years, there was a terrible food shortage, and this was coupled with a growing devaluation of our currency. We saw our coworkers grow thin and weak; street dogs were starving; we saw worse things, but that's a place I'd rather not go if I can help it. I guess the coffee shop managers were sick of having their tables taken by people who weren't there to spend any money and who, instead, just occupied the tables. The crazy thing was that even if you ordered coffee and pastries--it happened to me several times until I learned my lesson--, you could not offend them with your taking out a book anyway. So the book had to stay in my bag while I watched as everyone had their cell phones out and could use them freely, which included reading on their screens; apparently this kind of reading did not offend them or threaten their economy.

The second is a ritual that I love. I leave my house in a hippie mood. I go to any coffee shop that is close to the stores I want to visit, and I take out my notebook to make a shopping list: food, household goods, gifts, and other items appear gradually under the tip of my pen. I enjoy this ritual a lot when I travel or when Christmas is approaching—always that I have enough money on me to make the list trascend to reality 🤣

The third thing that neither ignorance nor the economic crisis have been able to take away from me is having the pleasure of signing the diplomas of my (former) students. You may know that I’m a professor at the public university in my region (eastern Venezuela).

I have been fortunate to work in areas that I feel passionate about, such as writing and literature; somehow, when we identify ourselves with the subject we teach, we professors get to build good relationships with our students and give them a lot; not only our time and knowledge to be their starting point towards much greater achievements than ours, but a sincere affection and a genuine interest in contributing to their professional and human formation. I believe that when they decide to bring their diplomas for you to sign them, they see it as a way, perhaps, of thanking you for a journey that has fulfilled them to the fullest.

In return, I like to offer them coffee. It's always coffee. This time, I ordered three frapuccinos for us and a cappuccino for my husband, who was waiting for me.

How I wish I could play Scrabble with my sisters and nephews in a coffee shop, play or read, without having to get up from my seat to brew coffee and serve it, prepare snacks, or--oh, no--do the dishes. I hope that our coffee shops in this small and sunny city by the sea will evolve and let us enjoy coffee the way it should be, doing what we love most.

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

Thank you so much for your visit :)

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