sleeplessness

so, i had gone 3 weeks without coffee while in africa (one bad experience in tanzania with milk in coffee, and i decided i should quit).

however, since arriving in beirut, i have realized what a coffee culture exists here. on my walks to work every morning, i pass by a little grocery store on the side of the road that sells coffee in little expresso takeaway cups - cars pull up to the side of the road (i saw a police SUV today!), order their coffees, and the servers rush back and forth, bringing their orders to their windows. a rustic drive-through, i guess you could say. and of course, i am back in the land of starbucks :)

alas, overcaffeination has been the death of me and the end of my ability to sleep. i have gone from one coffee in the morning per day (before the trip started) to a coffee at breakfast at the hotel, then a turkish coffee when i get to the office, diet pepsi for lunch (an office favourite), and then another turkish coffee after lunch. one of our staff offers to make coffee regularly - when i politely declined yesterday, he made one anyways, saying, it was our office policy that we each have a coffee after lunch!

hello, delicious goodness. goodbye, sleep.

this is a little wee expresso cup. but man, is it potent!