Iced Tea, "What the hell is that"

I was arriving Oman via seagoing tug from the Persian Gulf with the "tiger team" of MIUWU 113 from OKC. OK. Despite the fact that I was a member of the Navy this was the first overnight trip on the ocean. It was an absolutely excellent trip and for the first time I felt at home and comfortable on a boat.
The water could not have been any more blue and you could see way down and watch the sea snakes working their way through the water.
Once we arrived on the dock, the joint British/Omani contingent arrived to greet our commander and run us through disembarking procedures. Our equipment would be inspected especially our weapons ( down to serial #'s and number of rounds) and we would begin to offload to a holding area. We became aware of the stifling heat right away as it was close to 125 F and immediately started gulping our prescribed 8 liters of warm water .
Once we had offloaded all are equipment we were assigned quarters on a troop ship which used to be British and had been converted for the Omani troops. What conversion might you ask could be required of a once Royal Navy ship? Toilets thats what, yeah they had taken out perfectly good toilets and put in new smaller pipes and squatters. Omani's must be small people as our heads were hanging out of the curtains and we looked like some sort freak show as we did our business. For your convenience they had installed a small hose (which looked like a siphon hose) to spray the business end of ourselves. We didn't even try and used the first rolls of our pallet of toilet paper. We found out later as the ships engineers came up yelling ( no comprende) at us that we had clogged their precious smaller pipes. It was a real riot trying later to use the water hose. After we had set things in motion and found our quarters, we were allowed to rome freely around the base as it was after 2 pm and closed down for the day (heat). We had been told that we would be welcome at the British club on base. I was the first one in the door followed closely by some 5 others of my team. I was pleasantly and totally surprised to see a vast amount of alcohol on board. You see the Brits (retired Royal Navy contracted as trainers for the Omani navy) have everything in place and proper order. I was amazed because we were told no alcohol anywhere in the Arabia's. They must have made a deal (as they are on for 4 months and off for 1 month) to pacify themselves in this horrid place. Myself, being on duty and not having considered the option for alcohol while here for 3 weeks walked up to the bar and asked for an iced tea!! I must have been speaking chinese or something cause the whole place stopped in its tracks.
The Brit behind the bar asked me "what the hell is that?" We have tea but not with ice!!
Just because we speak english doesn't mean can communicate. We usually think we have it figured out so why do things almost always come around on us. Before we walked in there I would have bet 1,000 dollars they would've had iced tea. C'mon it's hot here, is a glass of cognac really the best thing
here?
Think you know everything? Think again, God is a mystery in almost all he does, so don't ever let your mind get the best of you. Belief is beyond perception and communication is our way of dealing with unbelief. Don't discount what you don't know, but don't dis it either. Given time you will be ready when the Spirit decides you are, hold on.