Special and ordinary times: tea in motion

Abstract

A group of students accompanied us on a trip to Mardin, a historical city they had never seen before and had a long day visiting numerous historical sites and climbing uphill. While taken by the beauty of the architecture and the scenery, everyone was reaching total fatigue, getting cold and wet on this rainy day and still trying to stick to a tight tour schedule. Suddenly, the tour guide appeared with a tray full of freshly brewed hot tea in small tulip shaped glasses. All the faces shined, smiles appeared, hands wrapped around the glasses warmed, and tired bodies were reinvigorated. A trip to an extraordinary place had turned into ordinary tourist fatigue in the course of six hours and the mundane tea returned the magic in a second.