For dinner Kathy and I almost always get the same table in the World Café. That is the casual restaurant/buffet. We don’t get dressed up. Typically we get there just after it opens and we are almost always the last to leave. The table called “our table” is well known by the waitstaff. They aren’t allowed to put a reserved sign on it. But that is the standard joke. However, since it is a table for 4 we are generally joined by another couple. Sometimes we have known them and sometimes it is just random. On this one night it was totally random! The lady was born in Iran and moved to America. Her husband was just a quiet American but good fun. So as we sat there talking, I said I was an Arabic Linguist. So soon I took a small piece of paper and wrote my name in Arabic. She took the paper and wrote my name in Farsi (Persian). That just got things started. Our normal servers are Ardel from Philippines, Mengfei from China and Barchyn from Russia (although everyone thinks she is Chinese because of her looks). Each of these three saw the paper and asked about it. Soon all 3 had signed my name (or so they said) in their language. Then someone else came by and wrote my name and something else in their language. Unfortunately I forgot who that was or what language.
So when the restaurant was about to close and we were the only passengers left in the room I had a picture taken with the 3 and added Cholo, another server from the Philippines. He is next to me. Are we having fun or what?
Johnson's Travel 