Coffee Stained Stories

May 31, 2020

“I want everyone to be kind to one another, get educated, help where you can, and be safe overall.

I’ve been feeling that 2020 has been almost one big waste of time. And in recent days I’m just hoping that 2020 will be worth something, and that change will come. I’m hopeful, despite that everything has been heartbreaking lately.

I’m holding onto the hope that humans are smart, and we can be generous and kind to one another. Because if we were so bad, why do we still have all the beautiful things that life has to offer to us? With time, I think we can get there, but it’s not easy.”

May 12, 2020

“After my grandpa passed away, I thought, damn, maybe this is the moment I moved back to Taiwan. At least I would get to see my parents often, and see my grandma. And I wanted my kids to know about my family. If you haven’t seen your great-grandma, when she passes away you’ll have no feelings. It’s like you didn’t even know her. I didn’t want that with my kids. I wanted my kids to know where they come from, where their parents come from.”

April 25, 2020

“I decided to move into street food around October. I do West Indies, so Caribbean food. What’s really good in London is at the Carnival, everyone opts for jerk chicken. Once you have the grill going, everyone’s running. You can’t go wrong, really. I decided to do jerk chicken and fried dumplings. A fried dumpling is like a donut – in Saint Lucia we call it bakes, Jamaican people call it dumplings. And the rest of the Caribbean has johnny cakes, which are much bigger.

Jerk chicken mainly comes from Jamaica. One of the most important things is having the pimento sauce, cinnamon, and ground seasoning of cloves. That will give you a really good jerk. You put it on the grill, and you get a nice authentic flavour occurring, and it’s just really good.

I left Saint Lucia when I was twelve years old. And my grandparents also had their street food stall. Every Friday and Saturday you’d have what’s called a fish night, or where you just have local street food that is really awesome. You’d have things like fried chicken, jerk chicken, grilled lamb, grilled pigtail, all of these things. You’d have lots of these lovely treats.”

April 7, 2020

“My very last day in Paris, I had literally packed up all my stuff, and my landlord had come by to pick up my keys. I still had a few hours left until I had to catch my train back home.

And there was a neighbour, who I think was living two floors above me. He was the first person I met when I moved in. He was always standing right outside my window, smoking. And it used to annoy me, because all the smoke then would come into my room. And he would always chat to all kinds of people. That annoyed me too.

So the very last day, I was leaving the apartment, and it was all the emotions and it was weird. And he was standing outside my window, again. And for first time, I got to really chat to this guy, and it was the most amazing conversation I had in four years of living in Paris.

He told me his whole story of how he came from Sicily when he was seventeen without any money, and he’s been living in Paris ever since. He was already retired. All of a sudden, I had an understanding for him and why he was talking to so many people on the street, because he knew everyone who lived on that street by now.

He told me that he was a carpenter. And now, he refurbishes furniture for fun and sells them. He would pick up some stuff from flea markets and tear everything apart, and re-do the cushions and put a new fabric on them. There was this couch with a wooden frame and a zebra print! It looked amazing.

In that moment I sort of believed in, something like destiny. That some things were meant to happen. I felt that maybe I was meant to finally talk to him on my last day, to leave Paris with a smile.

The last thing he told me was, ‘do not lose your spirit.’ That’s when I thought I had to write this down. Those moments, you really have to keep in your memory for whenever things do get tough again.

And I had the entire conversation for half an hour in French, too. I was proud of myself!”

April 3, 2020

“Two days ago, my sister-in-law delivered a baby girl. So when I leave quarantine on Sunday, I get to see the baby! And Monday is when her naming ceremony is, and I get to perform the ceremony.

The ceremony is called Chatti, which basically translates to six. The baby is named on the sixth day, and before that, you just call the baby ‘baby’. Even if you know the name, you can’t call her by the name yet. Usually it’s the sister of the baby’s father who performs the ceremony.

The ceremony happens after the sun sets at night. In both ears of the baby, you say a prayer, you tell the baby its name, and then you tell it to everyone.”

Alison’s office, Buchanan E ft. Great Dane Coffee | February 27, 2020

“My first son was born three weeks early, as if he had his own agenda. It was a last-minute C-section after almost 48 hours of labour.

I remember being wheeled out by the nursery and peering through the window, deep in the middle of the night. And I swear he opened his eyes and looked at me. I know they’re not supposed to do that, but I swear he did, and it was like this electric shock. I looked at him, and I realized, here was this complete human being who knew exactly who he was, and what he wanted and needed, and that I was going to be spending the rest of my life running after him, figuring it out. And I had never thought of it that way. I had these grandiose notions, and yet, he knew who he was.

And there was something so humbling about that, that it just sort of dropped me into this place of being able to write for children without being didactic. That’s the truth of it.”

Grounds for Coffee | February 19, 2020

“The Rat Snake of Baekjae is related to the story of a shaman. Shamans are an interesting type of people, even in Korea. They are considered ominous by most people. And I’ve had sort of a personal connection with a shaman when I was young. My mom was friends with a shaman’s daughter, and I saw her stealing uncooked rice from a restaurant. Later, my mom learned that there’s this belief that if you eat someone’s rice, you get all the fortunes of that house! Which is creepy, you know? So once my mom learned of this, she never invited her in again. She used to come to our house and eat our rice as well!

My main character in this book is a shaman’s daughter. I wanted to know what it would be like to be a daughter of a shaman.”

Dawna Shim on the things she notices in Vancouver on exchange from South Korea, and her love of reading and writing.

Caffè Cittadella | October 26, 2019

“I’m lucky that I was able to stand on the shoulders of caring, intelligent parents who gave everything for their kids. And they were lucky to stand on someone else’s shoulders. It’s a cycle, and I was lucky I fell on the positive side. And at a certain point, what you do with that luck is up to you. And I’m at that point where I think now what I do with all that luck is up to me.”

Vivek Sahay on growing up in Mexico, and living in different cities around the world. On what’s next for him, and on his desire to be impactful.

Porto Café | July 6, 2019

“I write. I mean, I feel like an imposter, because it’s not like I write super often since I’ve been so busy. But I write. I need to be more assertive in saying that because I feel like that’s a part of being a writer in your twenties.

Whether it be working on my own creative work, or working on other people’s creative work, I want to be surrounded by a creative, friendly environment.”

Derrick Gravener on moving away from Vancouver, Waitress the musical, the New York living, being a writer, and his hopes and fears for this world.

Starbucks Coffee Company – West 10th Ave | May 25, 2019

“I like that we are outside. Not in front of the computer all the time. It would be hard for me to stay in one place. Some people work in the office all day and they don’t see the sun, ever. Especially in the winter! But I’m outside and the scenery changes. I can tell my students to drive anywhere I want!

I’ve made many friends through my job. I know lots of plumbers, lots of doctors in this city. I spend maximum 1.5 hours with each student per day, so I never get tired of them! Lots of different conversations, this is what I really like.”

Keyvan Keshavarzi on immigrating to Canada as a young family, his home country Iran, and being a driving instructor and business owner of Atlas Driving School.