Crossing cultures with coffee ...

lan-guage
noun.

1.
a. Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
b. A system including its rules for combining its components, such as words.
c. A system as used by a nation, people, or other distinct community; often contrasted with dialect.

During the short periods of time spent in Nepal over the last couple of years I have tried to learn some of the local language. Often this has proved to be quite challenging and on a number of occasions completely diabolical on my own part! My hosts here in Kathmandu have been ever so patient as I have pointed and shouted in toddler-like fashion the Nepali word for random items, often pronounced very badly!
So it was the other evening when friends decided they would try to help me to take my acquisition of the Nepali language one step further. “The problem is,” Sapana said “Is that you just don’t have some of the sounds in English that we have in Nepali!” Her reasoning seemed particularly justified and I took her words as great comfort! “Take the t sound written in Nepali. It isn’t actually a t sound, its more of a td sound! You put the tip of the tongue at the top of your teeth and td, td, td!” I could understand what she was saying! I had even heard the very specific sound in spoken communication, but could I for the life of me manage to pronounce it? And as for my accompanying facial expression, think of it something like a goldfish with a twig stuck in the roof of its mouth! Needless to say, I am still rehearsing the language and there is a long, long way to go!

Thank goodness then for an agreed international form to aid cross-cultural communication ... coffee! Endless cups of the stuff have been consumed whilst in Nepal over various conversations; some trivial, some more pressing, It was after a very long flight and being subjected to poor airline coffee akin to engine-oil (I shall refrain from spilling the beans by naming the airline, if you pardon the pun!) that I set out in search of Kathmandu’s finest in a favourite haunt of mine, Himalayan Java. Situated in the Thamel area of Kathmandu, I was introduced to the delights of this oasis in the tourist area desert way back in August 2008 when I met up with a trekking guide friend. Since its humble beginnings in 1999, the cafe has become a great success with the locals – a place for people to meet and relax. and to rewind from the hustle and bustle of the city. And so it was here that I was able to catch up again with a trekking-guide friend, along with a journalist working for the Republica newspaper, the marketing director of the famous Nepal Ice beer, and a travel agent consultant! It was a great mix of people with very different experiences, sharing one common thing (apart from the fact that we knew each other) a cup of Java’s finest! Over the rim of the steaming mugs we were able to put a few of the world’s issues to right, and also to share and catch up on the stories, of which there were many to tell! Some amusing, some endearing, some that resonated the sheer fragility of life and the need for us to take all that is before us with two hands and run with it.

A few days later I had the opportunity to meet with some of the international teachers serving the 2010/11 academic year at KISC. Again, it was over a rather fine Cappuccino at the Summit Hotel in Jawalkhel that we were able to have a good natter! Coffee as an international social phenomenon, is severely under-rated!