Just My Cup Of Tea
We went for a tour of the company the other day, for a behind-the-scenes look at tea-making/manufacturing/packaging. What a great way to spend an afternoon! It was fun to see the different crates and packages and rooms of different tea leaves herbs from all around the world: cloves from Africa, lemongrass from Thailand, teas from India and China, mint from Oregon and Washington state, rosehips from China, etc. Oh my goodness--if you ever do this tour, and you remember nothing else, you will definitely remember the "mint room"--I love mint/mint tea, and it smells nice, but it is overwhelming...your eyes will water and your airways will burn. (The mint is kept in a separate room b/c it's so strong that if it were kept with all of the other herbs/tea, everything would start to taste minty).
It was cool to see how the tea bags are made and then packaged for shipment around the U.S. and world. And did you know that while we Americans typically get 20 tea bags in a box here, other parts of the world prefer smaller packages? The factory boxes smaller packages containing 10 tea bags (vs. 20) specifically for shipment to other countries, like the UK, Japan, etc. It was interesting to hear that, since it is true--everything in the U.S. seems to tend towards bigger, or super-sized, and it's always been a striking difference to find things on a much smaller scale whenever I've traveled to other countries.
Christmas was fun. As is obvious from my mention of Boulder, I've been in Colorado w/ my family at my sister's house. It was the trip that almost didn't happen. Or maybe almost didn't happen until Christmas Eve. Remember the snowstorm on the East Cost just over a week ago? Yeah. After a dissertation meeting with my advisor, and after booking a February 5th appointment with the endocrinologist, and arranging what could be the beginning of a set of complex lab tests, I placed those troubles out of my mind, and promptly left town on Dec. 18th for the hourlong drive to my parent's house. But the snow started during my late-afternoon drive, turning it into a treacherous two-hour drive. We got about 2 feet of snow, and then flew out of DC the next day, after every drop of patience was gone after navigating the zoo of the airport. The United Airlines check-in line extended the ENTIRE length of the main terminal (and it almost turned me into a monstrous bitch). Long story short, we arrived here at 2am.
And now that security is heightened thanks to that incident on the Delta flight from Amsterdam, I'm not looking forward to *flying* to the west coast tomorrow. Especially if new regulations really dictate that no one can get out of their seat to pee in the last hour of flight (after the airline serves drinks). But I sure am looking forward to these things: sunshine and warmth and fish tacos, ocean views, celebrity sightings, wearing my Univ of Oregon hat on New Year's Day (my dad should be mighty proud of my baby Duck loyalties), a traditional bowl of auspicious Korean rice cake soup on New Year's Day in Koreatown (L.A.), and finally, to cap off the holidays 2009, some slot machines and neon lights ;-)
Hope everyone had a great Christmas and any other December festivities and holidays of significance to you. We'll catch up in the new year, OK? Best wishes for a happy 2010.
