The world is made up of all sorts of people, and Luxembourg is no exception. Here you find people from all over, and they bring with them the customs, traditions, and habits from their homelands.
Sometimes we might be inclined to judge these people. Why is that woman kneeling in front of the H&M and eating her receipt? Why does that couple from across the street wear turnip costumes whenever they take their poodle on a walk? Why does that man incessantly smile at strangers?
Deep in my heart, I know that we shouldn’t judge others, and whenever I feel inclined to, I think about my own quirks or habits that others might find unusual or annoying. Still, my principles were put to the test when I recently started having coffee with a new colleague who moved here from a faraway country.
Celine (not her real name) fits in in almost every way. She dresses like everyone else. She eats the same things we do for lunch. She even speaks English and French quite well. Her German is atrocious, but whose isn’t?
Last Monday, I asked Celine to have a coffee with me, thinking she would appreciate the offer as she’s quite new and doesn’t know a lot of people in the office. We went to the café downstairs, ordered our drinks, and sat down.
That’s when I noticed something unusual about her. It’s normal to stir coffee when you add sugar or milk, and some people even stir it when it’s black, perhaps out of habit or because they want to cool it down. Well, that’s what Celine did. She stirred her black coffee. And she stirred it. And she stirred it some more.
I couldn’t stop staring. Her left hand kept the cup in place. Her right hand delicately held the tiny stirring spoon. Around and around it went. I was transfixed and annoyed in equal measure. When was she going to stop? Was this some kind of nervous tick, or was she testing my patience? After what seemed like an eternity, she finally stopped stirring and tilted the cup to her lips.
Since then, she’s been asking me nearly every workday to have a coffee with her, and each time I go, she spends six minutes stirring her coffee. No more, no less. I’ve been keeping track. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tiny ristretto in a miniature demitasse, or a large, frothy cappuccino in a huge mug.
I’ve come to the conclusion that her religion, whatever that may be, requires Celine to stir her coffee for that precise amount of time. I dare not ask her; that would be rude. Funny enough, I’ve taken up stirring my coffee for a long time as well: two, three, once even five minutes. I’ve got to admit that it feels good, right, and devout. I even wonder if stirring coffee for that long burns a few calories.
My point is this. We need to celebrate our differences. However odd other people’s behavior may seem, we should not judge them, especially if their religion requires them to act that way. Beyond that, we might give it a try. There might be something to it.
Anais K. lives in Ettelbruck and works in Bertrange.
