Today I’m drinking another Hispanic soda– Jarritos Tamarind (Tamarindo). I had heard of Tamarind, but when I picked up my bottle of this stuff (at Walmart), I honestly had no idea what it actually was– m best guess was that it was some sort of exotic spice or root– I imagined something like a weird sort of ginger. According to my extensive research *coughwikipediacough*, the tamarind is actually a fruit that grows in hard, pea-like pods, and is native to Africa.
So what of the drink? Appearance wise, this soda is a simple, unassuming brown; not a rich caramel, nor the deep, nearly black of Pepsi , but the brown of a mud puddle or your parents’ kitchen cabinets.
The first sip I took was… not good. There was a slight bitterness I hadn’t expected– and it made me think of some sort of vitamin-elixir one might find gathering dust in bottles at a health-food store. However, as I gave it a chance, I found it beginning to grow on me. The bitterness didn’t go away, but neither it nor the sweeter side of the drink is overbearing; the combination is a fairly mid, tart, fruity flavor more reminiscent of prune juice than anything else. I know this probably isn’t a selling point for most people (try this prune-flavored beverage!) but I mean it as a compliment. This is a light, refreshing drink with no real aftertaste, and one I’d honestly be willing to have again some time. Four out of five stars.
This week has been a doozy for me work-wise. Besides my day job as an English teacher (at which I average about ten or eleven hours a day), I’m still finishing up my Masters degree in teaching. This week several projects were due, and I found myself writing three papers this week in the evenings after I got home. (A fourth is due tomorrow night, but I’m conveniently avoiding writing it by writing on my blog. The best types of procrastination are those one can justify through other types of productivity.) Needless to say, I’m beginning to wear pretty thin, mentally, and and am counting the days till December when I graduate. I’m super-thankful for the support of my family, without whose encouragement I’d have surely either gone mad or quit by this point.
I don’t regret going through with finishing my Masters degree (even though NC has taken away Masters incentive pay for teachers), but I’m pretty worn-out. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but some days that tunnel is pretty dark, and the end is hard to see. All I keep telling myself is how great it will be to graduate in December, to have the pressure of school deadlines lifted, and to once again be able to turn my free time to the luxury of writing fiction. Until then, I’ll just keep truckin’ along.