"SUGAR WON'T HELP"

A sturdy building named Çiya. It looks the same as it did yesterday, today and tomorrow. Nothing changes. People pass by it without even noticing every single day. In contrast, the Keppler family and my family are sitting on the top floor inside of Çiya after eating lunch and all of us kids are attempting to order apple tea. The waiter is shaking his head implying, there was no apple tea to be had. “Apple'ın Çay yok çünkü ben Oregno Çay tavsiye” said the waiter. Sierra, one of the Kepplers knows some Turkish and agreed that the oregano tea would be fine.

Hannah and I didn’t know what oregano tea was. When the tea came, Aleah, another Keppler, is the first to take a sip and even as tiny as the sip is, every square centimeter of her face has a disgusted wrinkle. She dives to her right and claws desperately for a sugar cube. I am the next to try and I suffer the same fate. All of us put sugar into our glass of bitterness except Hannah.

Eventually, we create a little contest to see who can finish their tea first. Aleah chugs the rest of her tea with only two pauses. When I try to follow suite my throat burns after only one medium sized gulp. I continue to drink in tiny sips and while doing so second place in our little contest is taken by Sierra. I only have a quarter of my tea left but I fill it back up to the top with water. In a quest to get third place I choke down the rest of the diluted version of my tea and finish. My throat burns like a fire, my eyes water like a river. I snag the water bottle on the table and hastily pour some in while drinking it at the same time. The sugar in the tea did nothing to help.