You know how, when you're learning languages, people tell you that you can guess unknown words from the context and/or from your previous experience? And yep, very often that's true. But sometimes there's downright incongruity in the context (see above). And sometimes the context and your previous experience are misleading and/or inadequate.

We're back in Indonesia. (Yay!) Out east. (Beautiful!) I'm getting together some ideas for an article -- and doing some more language work.

On Sunday morning, we did a very lovely, very hot walk. On the way back, we stopped at the first drinks-purveying establishment we came to, and ordered tea. Which was excellent. I guess the water was boiled on wood, because the whole concoction had a lovely smoky flavour.

As is usual in these parts, we were much stared at. And we were only a few sips into the tea when the owner materialized, bearing a small, prettily shaded egg, a little bigger than a quail's egg. I immediately thought of those brochettes of quail's eggs you get sometimes in rumah makan. We'd already declined food (Pak Hasrun's breakfasts being very substantial), but I thought the owner was making another attempt to feed us -- we can boil you some of these, kind of thing.

"It's a mustika telur," he said. I had no idea what a mustika was, but a telur is an egg, so I assumed it must be some sort of bird (and yes, I know, the word order should have alerted me here, but I was in food mode...).

The owner went on to tell us about the health benefits conferred by such an egg. Good for the heart, good for the skin, good for pretty much everything really... My thoughts were still trugging along their food track, like wagons on a railway. Something good for the health... Looks like an egg... "So you eat it?" I asked.

"No, but it's for sale," he said. OK, I thought, if it's not food, Heaven knows what you do with it.

I declined the offer, and we went on to do the standard basa basi that oils the social wheels in Indonesia.

When we got home, I looked up "mustika" in the dictionary, and found it means a "magic jewel" or "precious stone".

Poor guy! Someone must have told him: "You have foreigners in your shop. Go and see if they want to buy THE EGG."

So out he comes, and does his stuff. Very well and enthusiastically. But... You can imagine him telling his wife later: "What's the matter with them? They just wouldn't comprehend... It seemed like they understood Indonesian, but then they talked about EATING my mustika telur... EATING it! Really, foreigners are always out to consume. Never mind, I had a nice chat with them."

And us -- well, we've probably turned down the best health insurance ever.