The Most Complicated (But Enjoyable) Picnic Ever

Today the church I work for had a Labor Day picnic in the evening, out in the countryside on a farm belonging to a couple in the congregation.  The picnic was scheduled for 5pm, so I left my apartment around 4pm since Mapquest said it would take about an hour to get there.  And sure enough, just after 5pm (and after momentarily being "lost" by not going far enough down the road) I pulled into the house's driveway.

And no one was there.

But, having just spoken to the woman who owned the house on the phone, I figured that she and her husband must just be inside the dome-shaped house, and that I must just be the first one there.  So I got out of the car, and started wandering along the fence, looking for a gate.  And I wandered...and wandered...and wandered.  I wandered to the very end of the long fence, and found no gate, besides a cattle gate that was wired shut.  So I turned around, and wandered back.  Shortly, I happened upon a farmhand and asked him where the gate was.  I was relieved to hear him mention the last name of the people I was looking for (at least I was in the right spot!), and he undid the wire around the cattle gate and let me inside the yard.

In a dramatic turn of weather-related events, the 105 degree stifling heat had given way to a day of temperatures in the mid- to upper-80s, which was lovely.  Unfortunately, this change in weather came with WIND.  And LOTS of it.  I felt like the Wicked Witch of the West was going to come flying by at any moment.  So, confused and windblown, I sat down in a chair and waited.  It turns out that not only was I the first guest, but I'd even beaten the hosts.  Eventually I fought the wind back to the car, both to search out a church bulletin and verify that I had the correct time (which I did) and also to sit out of the wind and away from the perplexed farmhand who was trying to figure out what to do with me.  While sitting in the car, I did what I often do in awkward situations: called my friend Brandi and laughed about the awkwardness that I was experiencing.

Around 5:20, the hosts of the picnic pulled up, and after introducing myself as the enthusiastic and charming young seminary intern, I helped unload their truck of its picnic-esque fare.  A little while later, another car pulled up, and a couple from the church got out.  Then we were all invited into the house, to escape the wind and wait on everyone else, who apparently had gotten hung up on a baby shower at the church (which, for the record, had begun 3 hours prior).

The house was the most charming thing ever.  It was one of those dome houses that you often see from the side of the road, but rarely get to go inside (if you're like me, anyway).  The inside was truly lovely, with warm yellow walls and hardwood floors.  The bulk of the place was taken up by a living room that opened up to the dome ceiling, complete with a spiral staircase in the corner leading up to a loft with cafe-style tables and chairs.  It doesn't take much more than a spiral staircase in the living room to make me a fan of a house.  Underneath the loft was the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom - simple, but adorable.  I told the family that if they ever got tired of the house, I'd take it off their hands.  This comment was received with general amusement.

For the next 45 minutes, I sat in the living room with these four people from the church (one of whom was wearing a white cowboy hat with a rattlesnake ribbon complete with a rattlesnake head sticking ferociously off the front).  We conversed politely, and I felt bad for being as tired as I was (keep in mind that I'd already been to work at the church and driven all the way out to the country by the time this event was happening).  Finally, around 6:30pm, more people began to show up, and around 7:00 or so I ventured back outside the house, into the wind and general crowd of Filipino people who had gathered.

It was at this point that the picnic began to be truly enjoyable.  I was introduced to a picnic table of ladies from the church and the hosts' next-door-neighbor, and sat and chatted with them for the remainder of the night.  The food (when it was finally served around 8:00) was bountiful and delicious - sticky rice (cooked in that perfect way that these Filipino people seem to be able to accomplish with ease), Greek couscous, grilled chicken, hot dogs, noodle salad with vegetables, adobo, and other things of which I did not partake because I ran out of room on my plate.  I did save room for dessert: a chocolate chip cookie and ginataang - a Filipino rice and bean dessert based on coconut milk and, in this case, containing giant blobs of tapioca.  It was all really, really good!  If there's one thing that can be said for this internship, it's that it's expanding my food knowledge and exciting my taste buds!

I left the picnic around 9pm, and got back to my apartment an hour later around 10pm.  The drive back included an unexpected venture through downtown Dallas at night; even though my GPS hadn't taken me on that highway on the way to the picnic, it seemed to be its preferred route back home, and being tired and unfamiliar with my surroundings I didn't want to risk overriding the GPS mandates.  Although this was naturally a more chaotic route, I always love driving by the city at night...it makes me feel like I'm living the quintessential exciting young-adult life.  Which, I suppose, I actually am...with some Filipino flare, in the case of this year :)

Tomorrow will be another busy social day, as I have plans with my boyfriend in the afternoon and I am celebrating a friend's birthday in the evening.  Hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in some homework time as well!!