It was Sunday, 3 July 2011 – a very nice, but hot day. My friend, Mr Arief and I went to Tibar, Liquica to deliver supplies for the project workers. Afterwards, we decided to have our late lunch. He wanted to have a “farewell party” – it was his last Sunday in East Timor. He asked where we should go, and I suggested a nice restaurant in Tibar. It’s on the hill, so we could see the sea and Atauro Island.
We sat at the terrace, on a nice sofa with cushions. After discussing the menu, we decided to order Spaghetti – Marinara for him and Bolognaise, my most fav for me. We also ordered iced tea. Just simple, fresh iced tea – it was a hot day.
Five minutes later, the waitres came with two bottles of cold tea. Spontaniously, I said to her, “No, not the bottled one. We want iced tea in glass. Just ordinary iced tea.” She answered, “We don’t have iced tea. We only have this bottled tea, except for HOT tea.” Then, she left us.
Obviously, my friend and I were a bit confused. I told him, “They can make hot tea, but why can’t they make iced tea?” I took those two tea bottles and went to the bar, where the waitress was. I told her, “Ok, I order two glasses of HOT TEA and a bucket of ICE CUBES.” I went back to my seat and explained to my friend what I just did.
Amazingly, approximately 10 minutes later, she came back with two glasses of HOT TEA and a bucket of ICE CUBES!!! My friend and I just looked each other and shook our heads, unbelieving. Was my order of iced tea so difficult to understand that I needed to order hot tea and ice cubes?
The formula is simple:
| Iced tea = hot tea + ice cubes. |
For my iced tea’s sake! I’m afraid if I live here much longer, my IQ may suffer…
