Tea is the daily practice now that gives structure to my days. Breakfast, 3 o'clock, 7h30 - these are the times for tea and the times when I can always be found in the kitchen setting the water to boil.
Apparently there are others here who also keep schedules that revolve around the kitchen. I suppose this only makes sense. I have come to know several of their faces, their footsteps.
There's one girl who I have even begun to talk to briefly every day about little things to fill the minutes it takes for my water to boil and her dishes to be washed. Lately we have been lingering longer, she forgets her dishes and I let my tea steep on the table.
Today she told me that my speaking is getting better, than I translate myself well into French. I think my smile may have faltered a little bit. She didn't intend it as an insult and I didn't really take it as such. But still the same, it made me pause for a minute and ask myself: Is this all I am capable of?
I sometimes think that's all life really is, a translation.
Apparently there are others here who also keep schedules that revolve around the kitchen. I suppose this only makes sense. I have come to know several of their faces, their footsteps.
There's one girl who I have even begun to talk to briefly every day about little things to fill the minutes it takes for my water to boil and her dishes to be washed. Lately we have been lingering longer, she forgets her dishes and I let my tea steep on the table.
Today she told me that my speaking is getting better, than I translate myself well into French. I think my smile may have faltered a little bit. She didn't intend it as an insult and I didn't really take it as such. But still the same, it made me pause for a minute and ask myself: Is this all I am capable of?
I sometimes think that's all life really is, a translation.
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