Six hours Mrs Su and I sat watching tea tips unfurl and rolling cups between our hands. I did see nothing but tea that day; but looking back years later I'm starting to understand.
Tea
I found myself that day somehow enveloped in a tea ceremony, ad hoc staged for my benefit in the back office of a Taiwan bottle factory.
My host’s wife, elegant and mysterious and old to my young eyes was, I understood, a big thing in tea ceremony world.
Tall cup.
Feel.
Short cup.
Smell.
Breathe.
Absorb.
Behold. The Universe!
The Universe and all her secrets are there for you in this formality, foreigner.
老外
Yet I saw nothing but tea.