There are a lot of ways to wonder. We can be wonderful in our wondering, we can be patient, we can be anxious. Most of the time I wonder about how things work or how they came to be.

In this moment, I felt certainty. The coal warmed consistently and the tea was exactly as expected. I knew the movements, I knew how to breathe and watch. In all of the wonderings that this adventure brought: with language, and culture, and religion, and self– for the tea, I was certain.

The mint will always bend and release its sweet spicy smell. Metal will always become hot under heat, steam will always furl and unfurl and seep into the pressed clay bricks. Although I have lost myself and feel overwhelmed by the wondering, I am thankful for the few things of which I can be certain.

Tizi N’Oucheg, January 2019