The Einstein Bros Bagels Cafe
On the UTEP campus, only a few places are devoted to recreational eating areas. The Einstein Bros Bagels Cafe is one of them. It is located inside the bookstore building which is one of the most important landmarks of the campus. We can see it from the freeway from where two exits lead to the roundabout and straight to Einstein. From the outside, the only thing you see are the tables and the umbrellas in the open-air seating area. For the novice, it is difficult to find because there is no mention of it in the Campus Building Directory. But for the veteran students, it is easy to find and to meet people you know. It’s also a picturesque spot for an appointment or to have some drinks and food.
The cafeteria has three entries; the main one is at the roundabout. If you go at rush time, in almost each break time, it will be crowded. You will see people in line even just inside the front door. You will be welcomed by the smell of coffee, cakes, and sandwiches and feel at home. You get in line at your right. You will have plenty of time to choose what you want to buy. The first display cabinet is for the ready-to-go products: cold sandwiches, salads, fruit salads, yogurts or bottled cold beverages such as tea, water, sodas or soft drinks. The second cabinet contains bagels, cakes, and cookies. You can choose from among a lot of types of bagels to make your own sandwich. Then you can also order a beverage of the size and the flavor you want, hot coffee, tea or a smoothie. The third cabinet contains the cash register, the coffee machine, and some baskets with goods for sale. The minimalistic decoration is modern, warm, and friendly. If you have the time to sit or if you find some available tables, it is a great place for a get together, or finalizing your homework or having a snack.
At first, everything looks nice and clean. The bagels, the sandwiches, the salads look like home-made or just made. But in fact you have to pay attention to not using all the sauces they give with the food because they are all industrial and very high in calories. The nutritional value is written on the ready-to-go products because the notice is mandatory but not for the put-together products. The same goes for the cakes. Try for example the blubbery cake; if you hold it more than two seconds in front of your nose it smells like sugar. When you test it, it is like a shot of sugar and sweetness in your mouth. If you are a sugar addict, it is the right place to be. If you are diabetic or if you have hypoglycemia, forget about it! Bring your own snack, lunch or breakfast! Like a lot of cafe food products, the majority of the items are sweet. Sugar is everywhere, even in the salad sauce! It seems like the majority of food producers are subsidized by the diabetes market.
Einsteins's “home-food” is in fact industrial food. We can infer it from the wrapping and the containers of the products they hide in the cabinet under the counter top in the oven area and those we can see if we have a look at the hidden second kitchen when the door is open. It is a small room in the back of the hall in front of the lockers. Inside there is a door that looks like a refrigerated room. Both spaces look very messy, especially at rush time, but it gives us a good idea of what kind of products they use. All the sauces, syrups, flavors, sandwiches, and bagels are industrially made. Everything comes in boxes ready to mix, to warm, or to put together. The fruit salad can stay all day in the display cabinet exposed to the sunlight without getting spoiled. This means that they add some syrup or some preservatives. In any-case, they don't have the room for cooking and they don't have the workers for that either because the employees are not real cooks. Some of them look totally lost if you ask for a special order. They are only there to take orders, payment, and assemble industrial products and warm them. Considering the quality of the goods, the prices are very high, especially for students.
Nonetheless, it is a place to get together. It is open almost all the time when students are present on campus. They offer a variety of warm products that are healthier than those found in the soda and snack machines in some buildings. When we don't have a lot of time and if we have to hurry between classes and want to have something to eat quickly, it is one of few options.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL by MAYELA PEREZ
The San Andres Community
How The Thought of Tarahumara Indians Changed My Mind.
Fifteen years ago, I was living in Parral, Chih., Mexico. One day I was in my father’s grocery store when a Tarahumara Indian woman came in. She was carrying a beautiful child that captured my attention. I asked her name and where she lived. She said her name was Elvia and she told me that they lived in the garbage dump. I could not believe it because I thought nobody could live there. During the rest of the day, I kept thinking about Elvia, and the next morning I went to find out where the garbage dump was. It was told it was on the outskirts of Parral and when I got there, I did not understand how someone could live there. I asked for Elvia and when I saw her “house,” I felt a huge sadness come over me.
After I knocked on the door, Elvia appeared with her daughter in her arms. Her house was very poor; there was only one room, but it was very clean. She told me about the work of the twelve families that lived there who collected recycling materials. I also found out that they could neither read nor write. I asked her what she needed most and she told me, “Nothing, we have everything that we need.”
When I left the dump, I understood I had a mission in my life. I talked with my mother and my sister Elizabeth about these people and we began to go there regularly to teach those families to read and write. We went three times a week and formed two groups, one group of adults and another of children. Quickly we began to obtain good results. All the Indians were very happy because they were acquiring knowledge they did not have before. I especially remember that Elvia was very excited when she learned the names of the colors and her favorite, which was red.
One day I received a call from Mr. Aguilera, a wealthy miner. He told me that he knew of the job that we were doing and he offered his help. We received money from him and with this money we built two classrooms and one court for sports. But we were not satisfied with this; we wanted to move these people out of the garbage dump.
We looked for help from the government and they gave us some land for all these families far away from the dump. This was not an easy achievement and I was very proud of this. The Tarahumaras were moved out of the garbage dump and into government housing built with cement block instead or fiberboard. They also built a school, another court for sports, a church, a grocery store, and an events room.
During the time that I was working with those people, understood that even though they did not have a lot of material things, they possessed other important things such as faith, comradeship, and a detachment of material things and for time. One of the most surprising things for me was that they always had a smile on their faces and a blessing for us. The Tarahumaras have been a good lesson for me and they have helped me to see life differently.
How The Thought of Tarahumara Indians Changed My Mind.
Fifteen years ago, I was living in Parral, Chih., Mexico. One day I was in my father’s grocery store when a Tarahumara Indian woman came in. She was carrying a beautiful child that captured my attention. I asked her name and where she lived. She said her name was Elvia and she told me that they lived in the garbage dump. I could not believe it because I thought nobody could live there. During the rest of the day, I kept thinking about Elvia, and the next morning I went to find out where the garbage dump was. It was told it was on the outskirts of Parral and when I got there, I did not understand how someone could live there. I asked for Elvia and when I saw her “house,” I felt a huge sadness come over me.
After I knocked on the door, Elvia appeared with her daughter in her arms. Her house was very poor; there was only one room, but it was very clean. She told me about the work of the twelve families that lived there who collected recycling materials. I also found out that they could neither read nor write. I asked her what she needed most and she told me, “Nothing, we have everything that we need.”
When I left the dump, I understood I had a mission in my life. I talked with my mother and my sister Elizabeth about these people and we began to go there regularly to teach those families to read and write. We went three times a week and formed two groups, one group of adults and another of children. Quickly we began to obtain good results. All the Indians were very happy because they were acquiring knowledge they did not have before. I especially remember that Elvia was very excited when she learned the names of the colors and her favorite, which was red.
One day I received a call from Mr. Aguilera, a wealthy miner. He told me that he knew of the job that we were doing and he offered his help. We received money from him and with this money we built two classrooms and one court for sports. But we were not satisfied with this; we wanted to move these people out of the garbage dump.
We looked for help from the government and they gave us some land for all these families far away from the dump. This was not an easy achievement and I was very proud of this. The Tarahumaras were moved out of the garbage dump and into government housing built with cement block instead or fiberboard. They also built a school, another court for sports, a church, a grocery store, and an events room.
During the time that I was working with those people, understood that even though they did not have a lot of material things, they possessed other important things such as faith, comradeship, and a detachment of material things and for time. One of the most surprising things for me was that they always had a smile on their faces and a blessing for us. The Tarahumaras have been a good lesson for me and they have helped me to see life differently.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
STUDENT WRITING: OBSERVATION by VALERA VOBLIKOV
22 September 2012
My Wonderful Neighborhood
I’ve been living in El Paso for six months and during this time I have discovered a lot of differences between America and Russia. It’s a Sunday morning and I’m walking through the beautiful neighborhood where I live. The houses on both sides of the road attract my attention and I find myself walking towards a park with an ensemble of perfectly looking houses and wonderful green gardens. At first glance, these houses look like perfect places for living. The windows and glass doors are clean and shine in the sun. The lawns in front of the houses are perfectly mowed, the trees are neatly cut. The porches are decorated with flowers and colorful signs. The birds are singing and I’ve just seen a squirrel hiding in the bushes.
Almost all people in the U.S. live in their own houses. I’m trying to imagine the place where I lived in Russia. It’s an old five floor anthill where people are crowded close to each other and separated at the same time by one meter brick walls and heavy metal doors with peepholes. People living on the first and last floors are forced to have bars on their windows. And you would be a foolish person if you left your car open on the street. In contrast, here I see that people sometimes don’t close windows and doors. They are not afraid of thieves.
I like the American way of living in your own house with a garden, backyard, and a garage. However, even though there are a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes in the U.S, a lot of houses are made of ‘cardboard.’ It’s no wonder that these houses can be totally destroyed by a falling tree. The houses remind me of the story about the three pigs. And I can’t understand why people are not afraid to build the straw houses in dangerous areas where hurricanes are very common and they might lose their American dream in a jiffy.
Now I am reaching a traffic light and I need to cross the road. I wish we had such wonderful roads in Russia. I’m immediately recollecting a famous Russian aphorism that there’re two problems in Russia: “The fools and the roads.” Maybe some other problems in addition to bad roads and bribery in Russia are severe climatic conditions and sudden changes in temperature. I love the dry climate here in El Paso. Even though it’s very hot, I don’t sweat. In my native city, the humidity can reach 100 percent. Because of the debilitating heat in El Paso, I haven’t seen any children playing outside during my walk. In contrast, I spent all my childhood playing open air games with my friends in our yard which was so native and unique for every child growing there.
I’m finishing my walk and getting close to my sister’s house where I live. Even though I like the beautiful houses and dry climate, everything still seems strange and alien to me. I miss my warm anthill and the yard where I grew up.
My Wonderful Neighborhood
I’ve been living in El Paso for six months and during this time I have discovered a lot of differences between America and Russia. It’s a Sunday morning and I’m walking through the beautiful neighborhood where I live. The houses on both sides of the road attract my attention and I find myself walking towards a park with an ensemble of perfectly looking houses and wonderful green gardens. At first glance, these houses look like perfect places for living. The windows and glass doors are clean and shine in the sun. The lawns in front of the houses are perfectly mowed, the trees are neatly cut. The porches are decorated with flowers and colorful signs. The birds are singing and I’ve just seen a squirrel hiding in the bushes.
Almost all people in the U.S. live in their own houses. I’m trying to imagine the place where I lived in Russia. It’s an old five floor anthill where people are crowded close to each other and separated at the same time by one meter brick walls and heavy metal doors with peepholes. People living on the first and last floors are forced to have bars on their windows. And you would be a foolish person if you left your car open on the street. In contrast, here I see that people sometimes don’t close windows and doors. They are not afraid of thieves.
I like the American way of living in your own house with a garden, backyard, and a garage. However, even though there are a lot of hurricanes and tornadoes in the U.S, a lot of houses are made of ‘cardboard.’ It’s no wonder that these houses can be totally destroyed by a falling tree. The houses remind me of the story about the three pigs. And I can’t understand why people are not afraid to build the straw houses in dangerous areas where hurricanes are very common and they might lose their American dream in a jiffy.
Now I am reaching a traffic light and I need to cross the road. I wish we had such wonderful roads in Russia. I’m immediately recollecting a famous Russian aphorism that there’re two problems in Russia: “The fools and the roads.” Maybe some other problems in addition to bad roads and bribery in Russia are severe climatic conditions and sudden changes in temperature. I love the dry climate here in El Paso. Even though it’s very hot, I don’t sweat. In my native city, the humidity can reach 100 percent. Because of the debilitating heat in El Paso, I haven’t seen any children playing outside during my walk. In contrast, I spent all my childhood playing open air games with my friends in our yard which was so native and unique for every child growing there.
I’m finishing my walk and getting close to my sister’s house where I live. Even though I like the beautiful houses and dry climate, everything still seems strange and alien to me. I miss my warm anthill and the yard where I grew up.
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