A coffee would simply be a very obvious drink to everyone. Drinking it would be just another kind of addictive habit which one would feel uneasy, helpless or, sometimes, one would even experience tremendous headaches without one. A coffee club would represent something larger than an ordinary place to satisfy our desire for caffeine. It is more to be a special venue which has been deliberately shaped and decorated to be comfortable and pleasurable to allow human beings interact with each other, socialize to make everyone inside feel the best of benefits to be alive. You will not disagree how it is so relieving and sometimes can also be exciting to meet various faces painted with various colors, telling you countless stories showing how life would feel differently being in another person’s body. When that faces comes from thirty different countries, it will be more than just some exciting moments. It will be so interesting and memorable that you will have the chance to develop yourself into a better human being. A human being who knows more about the world and in turn about life itself without having to spend energy and wealth to explore every corner of the world.

Here in UNIFIL Headquarter, the one and only coffee club is where everyone hangout to chat while temporarily escaping from any hideous obligation at work. It is amazing how you can learn more about the world while having a conversation with various people with different uniform and different occupation because the UNIFIL headquarter comprises of a mixture of international military and civilian staffs. It has become the meeting point of people who happened to work at the same place sharing the same vision and the same experience but different in their nationalities. Decorated with one magnificent scene of the blue and calm Mediterranean Sea, it is a very enchanting place to find a little peace from all troubles of the world. Some would decide to stay for ten to fifteen minutes enjoying the view, drinking coffee while having various conversations ranging from work experience, own cultural values, events or expressing a simple opinion about others. There is a great chance to know more about other people from a simple but meaningful conversation. It is also an opportunity to learn how international people think about life and how they chose to live driven by any possible motives to reach their dreams in life.

I have never missed a chance for morning coffee before working hour starts, and I have found out that many also prefer the same choice of time. Including some local Lebanese staffs that I have known for quite some time through sharing a table for coffee. Anton, Gerries, Ibrahim and Sammy are some of the most interesting guys I know here. They are physically superior in height and weight representing the Arab’s physical strength in general. Considered to be old enough to be at their late 30s and early 40s, they are very emotional who do not like to hide their feeling. If they are mad about something, they will dare to use the worst kind of words to describe it. But if each of them loves what he hear, similarly every one of them would laugh explosively showing unbearable amount of joy even though it is rare to find them like that. I know that they have been appreciating the Indonesian presence here in UNIFIL Headquarter because we work at almost the same area of responsibility which is taking care of the camp and providing various services to support the welfare of all international staffs. And at several occasion we have been exchanging cooperation and aid to assist each other. Through sincere and continuous cooperation we started to trust each other. At the coffee club, they would never hesitate to express their interesting opinion about past experience cooperating with other nationalities. For someone who has 20 years working experience in UNIFIL like the three of them, every words coming from their mouth means knowledge to me. Through each one, I can have a vast knowledge about the best and the worst of others working in UNIFIL. I have been earning the benefits of gaining actual information about other’s behaviors for a reference in choosing a way to deal not only to the lowest class in Unifil organizational hierarchy but even to the highest level of position who has the most power. Their stories about past experience are beneficial knowledge similar to all benefits that we earn mastering lessons from history. Their opinions about the quality of various international people are social knowledge describing human psychology and to some extent the philosophy of life.

Ibrahim and Gerries, at some point in our conversation over a coffee remind me about choosing the safe side in order win. I never forget what each of them said at one time advising me to avoid unnecessary conflict. One of them said, “You are young, confident, strong in mind and idealist, but you have to be careful in dealing others who are powerful”. The other implied to strengthen the theme by saying, “There are some people who are born to be like snakes”. And after I asked them about ways to fight a snake, Geries simply said “Don’t fight and just let them go my friend.” It is simple but meaningful indeed.

At another chance of coffee time with Sammy, right after a serious but brief conversation about political situation in Lebanon, I was describing to Sammy how Indonesian values more to people who prefer to stay silence by implying our famous saying “silence means gold,” and also, “Your mouth is your tiger.” It is so interesting that he directly offered a different kind of saying in Lebanon that is contradicting. He said, “You know, at rough times on the ocean with the worst kind of storm, strong wind and rain, we will choose to be on top of the water where it is cruel rather than to be under the water even though it surely is very calm indeed.” He continues by explaining that it is better to be close to a predicted loud and talkative person rather than to be close to an unpredictable quite person. So I conclude the discussion by understanding that in Lebanon, “Silence means dangerous.”

From them, I can describe Lebanese citizen in general as highly individualistic kind who strives to gain individual goals above others. It may look selfish and egoistic but Individualistic values are important and can be beneficial to others, especially who are fighting to survive living in the world that sometimes can be so cruel and unforgiving to any type of failure.

Those coffee times are not the only stories I have experienced. There are many other interesting conversations from other coffee times with different people from various countries. Those brief conversation but in fact meaningful and beneficial to be understood by anyone who is preparing with endless effort to survive life in the future to come. The moments in UNIFIL coffee club gaining a different perception about the world and about life. They are moments of learning something new and useful, while your mind is being sparked and ignited to start its thinking engine in exploring endless kinds of possibilities to find ways reaching individual unpredictable dreams. They are the moments when you are feeling alive again and again.