Picnic

A neighbor invited me to a picnic for ladies and their children. It was a 7 1/2 hour event, and we had a great time! About every hour and a half a new course of food was introduced on the table, and in between the eating the kids played jumprope, soccer, basketball, tag, and other games. In all we had 4 courses of food, and it was all capped off with some hot tea. As I looked around the table, there were 15 women, and only two of us did not have our heads covered. Though I'm very much a foreigner, I felt at home with these ladies. Our main commonality is parenting and marriage. We like to cook. We buy tupperware (one of the ladies is a Tupperware consultant). We talk about clothes. We talk about cleaning. Of course, I'm saying "we" when there were only 1 or 2 ladies at the picnic who spoke English. My dearest friend here lives 2 floors beneath our apartment, and her English is very good. She would clue me in on much of the conversation. Without words, though, hospitality speaks volumes, and these ladies have it. Here are a few pictures from the picnic and the sweet children who are becoming my children's friends.