Picnic in the Mountains

We had a picnic with the members of our branch (congregation) here in KZ. We met up at the church between 9 and 10 a.m. Saturday morning, and then we headed to the busstop around 10:15 a.m. We took a bus up to one of the last stops and then began to walk. Since we had Addie we were given a ride in the first "caravan" to the picnic site. The members who had cars drove the picnic supplies, small children, older members and us first and then went back and brought the rest of our company to the picnic area (Clari--I believe it was a new spot and not the usual mountain picnic area).

It was actually a bit of a drive to the picnic spot, but we found an area where we could have a campfire and keep out of the wind. The picnic was a lot of fun. The first thing that we did was assign the men and children to go find some dry firewood. And boy did they! Then children found berries that they could pick, so they brought those around for us to eat. Meanwhile, a table was set up where a few of the women began preparing the food. They made little sandwiches of sausage, bread, cucumber, and a seasoned tomato paste of some sort. We then waited (and played a "game" the missionaries put together) while the plof cooked and the women prepared the salad to go with it. The food was great!!! Everyone was given a generous helping, and man was it tasty! Chris got us each a second helping, which I sat down to eat with the other women. I finished the salad and began eating the plof when one of the women began serving me more salad. I began to laugh and gestured to her that it was enough and she continued to heap it on. While there may be a VERBAL language barrier, I assure you that was not the problem. Someone translated "it's for the baby" (since I'm nursing). Goodness gracious! So, I continued to work on my food and they started dishing up more plof. And wouldn't you know it but I was given another huge serving of plof! I simply couldn't finish it all. Chris helped, but even he didn't finish it. So, we let that settle and then they broke out dessert and tea (herbal, of course). Afterwards the missionaries pulled out what Chris calls "the fireman game" and some of the girls headed up into the orchard to pick apples. They came back with quite a haul! We ended up with about a kilo or two of fresh picked apples.

We took some pictures on the bus, behind me you will notice some black curtains in the windows and behind Chris you will notice some tassles hanging around the lights. Some of the buses are decorated, and I believe it's done by the driver. Sort of fun... =)



Cows in the road! Moooo-ve over! ;)

The first field we went to could easily have been named "cow pie clearing" or "tin can alley". There was an abundance of both.


While everyone seems to love nature, there doesn't seem to be much done to keep it up. There was trash everywhere! Big piles of it as well as pieces strewn about.

I will say though, the view was pretty.




Because no meal is complete without tea...

The yummy sandwiches...

The women at work...

The wood collected for the fire...


The actual pile of wood used...

The kind of chair nature intended ;)

The game the missionaries played (with a thought afterwards). Everyone was blindfolded and led to a rope that was wound around a path. There were good voices to lead them to the end and bad voices to try and frustrate their efforts. At the end of the rope/path was a tree where they were each given an apple. Sound familiar anyone?? =)



Plof!

Dubbed the branch baby, we can hardly keep Addie in our own arms!


Horses anyone? (to give perspective, this first picture shows the hood of one of our vehicles)


One of a few breaks to feed Addie

"The firemen game"

One of the girls was able to get a picture while feeding a cow an apple from her hand (up in the orchard). When the cows ventured our way I decided I needed a picture like it. Unfortunately this cow would not comply no matter how hard I tried!!! Geez-Louise! =)

The happy group before we head out!