In September, Kunming’s supply of Coke Light (Asia’s equivalent of Diet Coke) ran out. It was a dreadful day as I was forced to confront my addiction to diet coke and go cold turkey. Every night, I began to dream of a place with rivers flowing of diet coke. Instead of candy and lollipops, this place had fountain machines with an endless supply of 32oz diet cokes with Sonic ice(my favorite thing in the whole world!) And each morning I would wake-up and sigh, as I came back to reality – living without diet coke.
After a month of suffering, I was left with no choice but to begin scouring the streets of Kunming in search of a diet coke. Surely it had to exist somewhere in this massive city! But with every rock I unturned came more disappointment. For example, several restaurants list Coke Light on their menu. My eyes would light up as I read it, and I would try, unsuccessfully, not to get my hopes up. Each time, I turned immediately to the waitress and said, "I want a Coke Light." The response was always the same, “We don’t have that.” Oh, the agony!! Every store I went into had Coke, Coke Zero, Pepsi, and Sprite, but Coke Light was always missing on the shelf.
As my last plea, I reached out to you, my friends, on November 12. I told you that the only gift I wanted for Christmas was for each of you to write a letter to the CocaCola bottling company in Kunming requesting a special batch of Coke Light. I even offered to go pick it up.
Well friends, OUR VOICE WAS HEARD!! Yesterday, I walked into the small shop near my house and almost fainted when I saw Coke Light sitting on the shelf. Rows and rows of my favorite pop – maybe not the river that I had a dreamed about, but at least three rows of cans. I started jumping up and down (once again playing into the “crazy foreigner” stereotype). I just couldn’t contain my excitement!!
My natural conclusion was that I had to buy EVERY Coke Light in the store! I grabbed every single can, wiping out the shelf and the drink cooler. I ended up with 43 individuals cans of Coke Light (they don’t sell cases here).
The CocaCola Company in China heard us and granted our request; and they even delivered it : )
The store employees trying to find strong enough bags so I could carry all 43 cans at once
I designated an entire kitchen cabinet for my Diet Coke... and then I padlocked it, haha!
