Sweet Tea, hot or cold?

Okay so I've mentioned Sweet Tea before, but this time I'm going into detail.
I was on the phone telling my Mom about how very much like the SOUTH it is here, and how when I comment on that fact, people say, 'Weeeelll, noooo, it's not really the South. Well okay I guess kind of, but you're just on the edge of the South. Not like in the heart of the South or the Deep South or anything. Yeah. Just the edge of the South."
To which my Mom replied,
"What EVER. There is no such thing as 'the edge of the south' you are either full in our full out! There is no in between! You're on dry land or you're drowning in the river. Edge of the South? Ha! They are in denial! You are in the South."
Now what on earth does this have to do with Sweet Tea, you ask? I will tell you. Because Sweet Tea is to the South as the Flag is to the United States of America.
So I was talking with a friend who is from Alabama, and I told her what my mom had said about us not being on the edge of the South. She looked at me with shocked horror and indignation and said,
"This is not the South. Any State that does not have a LAW about serving Sweet Tea in all it's restaurants is NOT the South!"
I laughed and was like, 'that's funny Amber' and she looked at me with authentic sobriety and said,
"I'm serious. It is against the law in Alabama to not serve Sweet Tea in our restaurants!"
Okay that's just extreme.
Now you must understand that it cannot be Sweet HOT Tea that we are talking about here. It must be Sweet ICED Tea. You may put some lemon juice in it if you are so inclined, and then you can call it "the champagne of the South." However DO NOT say anything milk or cream in your tea or you will get a 'oh you poor deprived foreigner who doesn't even know how to take your tea' look.
An example would be the other day. I had fifteen minutes between classes, and I was really really tired and rather cold.
(On a side note, whoever runs the temperature control for this facility thinks that we are all going to be Missionaries to Siberia and is trying to acclimate our bodies to extreme temperatures! The classrooms are FREEZING! So we get up early in the morning to go to class and put on sweaters, pants, have our hair down, chunky socks, a few of us have thought of bringing gloves to class. However we're in that building for about three to four hours and so are not around when it heats up to the blazing humid sticky hotness of August that invades the outdoors. So we're trying to convince ourselves that we aren't icicles when we step out the door and are hit with a humid oven blast. It would be one thing if we could dress like it's still technically summer but have a thermos of a hot beverage with us in class, but they want to keep the rugs nice and have banned everything but water in classrooms. *sigh*)
Okay so I was cold and tired. When I was in England several years ago I became acquainted with English Breakfast Tea with sugar and cream and it was one of the best breakfast experiences of my life. They have it at the Cafe here too, however the cafe is across campus. I thought that running might be a good idea, because 1. it would get my blood moving and help me stay awake and warm for the next class and 2. it would help me work off the calories I was about to consume and 3. I didn't know how long the line would be in the Cafe so thought the more time I could save the better it would be.
So I started jogging.
Now, you have to understand, this is a Campus of Southern Bells. Southern Bells do not run if they do not have to. They are still getting over the fact that hoop skirts are out of fashion and ladies can move quicker than a graceful, slow glide without looking uncouth. They CAN go jogging but only for aerobic purposes and in groups or in the gym.
So I caught a few stares as I zipped across campus. I have a friend from Tennessee who was in ROTC all through High School and while he was in a secular college, and almost ran into him.
"Forget something, Rachel?" he asked, laughing.
"Yeah Tea." I called as I continued. I heard him make some sort of "tsch" sound.
Anyway I got my tea and all was good. Until lunch, when I bumped into my Tennessian friend again at the cafeteria.
"So now what did you forget this morning?" he asked.
"Tea. See, I only had a few minutes between classes, but I was really cold and tired, because those classrooms are freezing, so wanted some tea to wake me up, so I was running to get it so I wouldn't be late."
"So you ran all the way there and all the way back. For tea."
"No not all the way back as I didn't want to spill hot liquid on myself."
"Hot liquid? Where'd you get hot liquid? Wait, you got HOT tea?"
Now, first off, I'm kind of wondering why anyone would go get a cold drink to help thaw out from a cold classroom.
Second, the way he said 'hot tea' you'd think I'd said I'd just run to get some Kimchi and Century Eggs from the Korean students 'cause I like it so much.
"Yeah I got HOT tea, remember I was COLD!"
"You drink your tea HOT?"
"Yeah with sugar and milk!"
"You put MILK in your tea?!"
"Well, not if I can get cream."
He kind of backed away from me at that point.

So. I was told that I was doing suprisingly well with the tea for a Northern girl during my first week here. I do LIKE Iced Sweet Tea, but I also like hot English Breakfast tea. Its kind of like, 'Which is better, chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chip cookie dough?"
Sometimes I really want the stuff baked and other times I'm like, whats the point? Just leave out the eggs and call it good. Same with tea. Which is better, hot or cold? I realize this issue is an intergral part of the culture here, kind of like Calvinism vs. Armenianism, however I like both. The only difference is that with tea, when it's winter Hot tea is most decidedly better and when I've been outside in blazing heat cold tea is most decidedly better. However I know there's people who have their daily sweet Iced Tea even in negative 13 degree weather with a windchill of negative 30 degrees, and those who will have hot tea even in 99 degree weather. Just like there are those who will demand that you leave the cookie dough unbaked or those who will pull out the health dictionary and list the evils of uncooked dough and why you MUST cook it. Or why others will stay up until two in the morning dancing with circular reasoning about Calvinist vs. Armenianism.
(incidentally when asked if I'm a Calvinist or Armenian I say 'yes' and sit back and enjoy the show as they come unglued. Just kidding. I don't enjoy watching them come unglued I flee in terror before they try to convert me to one extreeme or another)
So yeah. Anyhoo.
There it is. I kind of had to just get that off my chest. I'm sure I rambled, but I'm equally sure you were laughing somewhere after the beggining and before the end at what I wrote. :-) As long as we're all smiling at the end of it, that's what's important, no?
(at least in the case of Tea.)

More quotes from Professors

This seems to be a popular topic, so probably my next installment will be entitled, "QFP Volume 3" or something like that. Anywayz:


" Most of the professors on this campus require that your assignments be typed. However, for this class, if your handwriting is terrible and your typing is worse, then write it by hand."

~Marsha Omanson, English Professor~

"(The Apostle) Paul didn't sit down with an IBM or an Apple - by the way, Paul would have had a Dell - he didn't sit down with a scroll and map out where he was going before he went on his Missions trips."

~R. Bruce Carlton, Missions professor~

"You all sound like Michael W. Smith and his choir. Michael W. Smith have THE most WUSSY sound I have ever heard in my LIFE! Now sit up straight and sound like an adult choir! You all are adults now, did you know that?"

~Nathan Platt, Choir director and Music Professor~

"Now the first Jewish religious group that we are going to look at that is unique to the New Testament is the Pharisees. (writes "Presbyterians" on whiteboard) Oh I'm sorry, I'm terrible at spelling. (crosses word out and writes 'pharisees' on whiteboard)"

~Dr. Dave Deklavon, professor of New Testament Studes~

"A worldview is a network of related presuppositions that are not verified by natural science, but in terms of which every aspect of experience is interrelated and interpreted."

~Dr. Wellum, professor of Worldviews/Philosophy~

"Some of you guys are called to be a pastor and you haven't dated in three years! Get on it and act normal!"

~Dr David Adams, professor of Christian Education~


In other news, you know you are in Kentucky when the words "dad' and 'died' are pronounced indistinguishably.

~Princess Ouch~

Lessons from Philosophy class

"God has made a cause-and-effect universe; therefore we can find out something about the causes from the effects. But (and the but is very important) it is an open universe because God and man are outside of the uniformity of natural causes. In other words, all that exists is not one big cosmic machine which includes everything. Of course, if a person steps in front of a moving auto, the cause-and-effect universe functions upon him; but God and people are not a part of a total cosmic machine. Things go in a cause-and-effect sequence, but at a point of time the direction may be changed by God or by people. Consequently, there is a place for God, but there is also a proper place for man.
This carries with it something profound - that the machine, whether the cosmic machine or the machines which people make, is neither a master nor a threat - because the machine does not include everything. There is something which is 'outside' of the cosmic machine, and there is a place for man to be man."

~Francis Schaeffer~

"Man by the Fall fell at the same time from his state of innocence and from his dominion over creation. Both of these losses, however, can even in this life be in some parts repaired; the former by religion and faith, the latter by the arts and science."

~Sir Francis Bacon~

"I cannot believe that God plays dice with the cosmos"

~Albert Einstein~

"Oh God in heaven, have mercy on us. Oh Lord Jesus Christ, pray for your people, deliver us at the right time, preserve in us the right, true Christian faith, gather your widely scattered sheep by your voice, which is called the Word of God in Scripture. Help us that we might recognize this your voice and would not follow another tempting call, that would only be human imagination, so that we might never leave you, Lord Jesus Christ!
... Oh God! You have never burdened a people so horribly with human laws as we are under the Roman chair, who desire daily to be free Christians, redeemed by your blood. Oh highest, heavenly Father! Pour into our hearts by your son Jesus Christ such light, that we might recognize which messenger we are constrained to obey, so that we might reject the burden of the others in good conscience and be able to serve you, eternal heavenly Father, with a glad and cheerful heart."

~Albrecht Durer~

"The Bible makes plain that there should be effects in society from the preaching of the Gospel, and voices were raised to emphasize this fact and lives were given to illustrate it."

~Francis Shaeffer~

"Christianity is the immortal seed of freedom of the world."

~Alexandre Vinet~

"To conclude, therefore, let no man out of weak conceit of sobriety, or in ill applied moderation, think or maintain, that a man can search too far or be too well studied in the book of God's Word, or the book of God's Works."

~Sir Francis Bacon~