Family Day

Over the weekend we had the chance to hang out with some neighbors for their Family Day. It turns out these folks are serious about their get-togethers. More like an African-American family reunion than anything we've ever been a part of. We got matching shirts, stickers for our cars, antenna ribbons, and more. We were invited as the official photographers (seriously).

The schedule originally said we'd "gather" at 8:30 to leave at 9:30. Well, normally in Asia that would mean the Americans arrive at 8:30 and stand around in the sun waiting until 10. So when they pushed the time back a bit to "gather" at 8 and get some pictures before leaving at 9, we were still in no hurry. When they called at 7:50am to ask where we were, I thought I might have misjudged things. When they called again at 8:15 and asked why we still weren't there I knew we were officially late. This is what we saw when we arrived ... a group waiting in the sun with no photographer. Ouch!

So after our late start we had a prayer and a ribbon cutting. I told you this was serious ... check out that megaphone
At the beach in the hot afternoon sun. No one on this beach was wearing shorts. The ladies swim in long pants and long sleeves. Or they sit on a mat under an umbrella. Men keep covered to below the knee at least.
The other day when we were talking about going Bethany whined, "What?!? Another beach trip?" Funny how quick we can take things for granted.
Since men stay covered to below the knee (and Craig has no capris) this is a shot of him preparing to enter the pool fully dressed for some spontaneous "Dad games" including 'Who Can Hold Their Breath the Longest?' and a version of 'Pool Soccer' that included the Dads throwing a soccer bottle at 2 liter bottles.
Maybe you can't see it here but on the left side of the photo Craig was being held the whole time by the man "guarding" him. "It was all for fun," except the guy wouldn't let the white fella play.
Of course we had to eat some fish and rice. Yummy. Caleb did a good job of cleaning his like a cat in a cartoon.
Folks got all sorts of prizes. Bethany won a game and the kids all got prizes like colored pencils. Don't look at the weird face Amanda is making, just check out Bethany's smile.
After the prizes were handed out, the karaoke got started. Trying to enjoy things and mind our own business, Craig was eventually dragged into dancing in front of everyone. Raise the roof, whoop, whoop. Wow, what skills!!
This eventually led to Craig's amazing rendition of Black Magic Woman. Truly an unique experience for everyone in attendance. Mercifully its a Santana song so its basically four guitar solos interrupted by lyrics in a few places but the lyrics seemed to brim with innuendo. Imagine trying to sing while also trying to figure out if the lyrics were offending people who don't even show their knees.
One dance and one song later, we were ready for bed. Early by local standards, 11pm or so. Not sure how many weekends we can handle with this much excitement but it will be fun to try.