Skip to main content

Ice Ice Baby

Whilst taking my German classes in high school, Frau Zarndt (who was a lovely, if a little out there, teacher) who hailed from Switzerland taught us of some of the vagaries of life in Europe.

One of the most incomprehensible things was that they didn't use ice in their drinks. At all.

I didn't get it, but I didn't put much thought into it, really.

When I was on my mission in Korea, people didn't put much ice in their drinks there, either. In Korea, they also don't fill the cup up to the brim. Rather, they leave it about 90% full, with a comfortable margin at the top for drinking without slopping it all over yourself. I think it's kind of polite, but I also feel like I'm being cheated out of the full cup of drink.

At least in Korea they offer complimentary refills on soft drinks.

Korea also doesn't believe in drinking just plain water much. They typically serve a barley tea which is yummy, but not necessarily refreshing. I once had a boiling hot, spicy dish in Korea, when I was inexperienced about such things, and then grabbed the cup seeking relief, only to find that it was just as hot. Like pouring gasoline on a fire hoping to put it out...

Then, while in Europe most recently, I experienced the lack of ice thing again. I have become accustomed to having access to the beverage and ice amount of my choice, rather than having to have someone fill my drink for me according to some arbitrary and subjective or corporate-determined standard. And again, with the no ice...

Apparently, no one knows why there's no free refills and ice. I read an amusing article about it:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/ice-enough-already/?ref=opinion&_r=0

I'd be interested in your thoughts. Do you ice it up? Or do you prefer ice-free drinks?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord!

The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to testify of Christ and bring souls to Him. Who can deny this who have read the book and pondered it's sacred import? My life has been blessed and I have come to know Christ through reading this holy book. I know that Christ lives and loves us. I know He is our Savior and Redeemer. I know that through His merits alone we are saved from an eternity of misery and woe. I know that He died for us. I know He lives for us, advocating our cause before the throne of the Almighty. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the Master, the Son of God, the great Jehovah. Blessed and praised be His Holy Name forever and ever! To Him be all glory, honor, and majesty to an eternal day! It is the atonement of Christ - His suffering and subsequent victory - that makes all of this possible. His grace is sufficient for all after all we can do. And make no mistake - we must do all in our power. But through Him and by Him we can and will overcome. I love H
2 comments
Read more

2020 - A retrospective

 There will no doubt be many retrospectives written about the year that was 2020. It was a tough year for most, a good year for many, and generally speaking a very interesting year. Which reminds me of the the old curse - may you live in interesting times. Because, you see - interesting does not always mean good. It does not mean better. It does not mean happy. It just means interesting. So to highlight just how interesting things were, I offer the following post about things that went on. Or didn’t went on. It’s not intended to be chronological, necessarily, or even accurate. It’s just some of my observations.... Let’s start with the pandemic. Pandemic is a word that was previously the realm of science fiction and/or horror writers (The Stand comes to mind). Late 2019 a disease was identified in Wuhan, China, which is a place I’d never heard of before. Apparently coming from some kind of exotic meat market, this strain of Coronavirus was something that the world hadn’t seen before. Ma
Post a Comment
Read more

Is this thing still on?

 Does anyone even blog anymore? I remember when it first got started and everyone was having a blog. I like writing, and I do a lot of it in my professional life, but not everything makes it onto this blog, which is where a lot of my personal thoughts come out. I put more into Facebook lately, too, because it's a little easier. But there's something to be said for this long-form writing exercise, and I think I will continue here periodically. You don't mind, do you? Well, in my last post I wrote about how difficult things were for me at the time. That changed in July when I finally got a job working for the State of Utah. I was the program manager for the moderate income housing database program, and that meant I worked from home a lot but also went in to Salt Lake when needed, mostly on the train. It was a good experience, for the most part, and I'm grateful for the things I learned even in the short time I was there.  In October I started working for Weber County in t
Post a Comment
Read more