Coke Slamming

I have developed a habit of "coke slamming". As you know, this is the month of Ramadan and many people are fasting, so it is rather inappropriate and rude to drink or eat in front of anyone. But usually mid-afternoon, I develop a profound craving for .. Coca Cola. I know that coke is not friendly to the body, and that my mother would be horrified to learn that I've taken to drinking such a polluted liquid, but there is something about the environment here that makes it appealing. In the states, if you drink a coke with dinner it's enjoyable, but nothing to dwell on. Here, somehow the mix of hot days, intense hours of studying, dirty streets, and just a general sense of grimyness (I think I just made up a word)... makes a cold, glass bottle of refreshingly cool, crisp Coke very seductive.

Between sessions of language, a friend or two will rush to the Coke fridge, drop 5 Dirhams in the clay pot, and pop off the bottle cap. Aaahhh...

I wonder if Americans experienced this same sense of pleasure from a Coke decades ago, when America looked more like a (current) second-world country.. everything a little dirtier, lack of air conditioning, walking was more common than driving, fridges and ice rare... it just adds some dimension and aura to the experience.

... Or maybe millions of people around the world have known something that I'm just discovering. It's a dangerous discovery.