Thursday -International "summer" picnic

Today was a quiet day. I never even left the apartment because it was so cold and dreary. The boys went out a few times. We were invited to a summer social for international students for supper. They apologized for the weather and said that they had summer weather in May and now it was unusually cold. It sprinkled occasionally but we could be outside for part of it.

The party was in a shop area with access to outside. They set up several picnic tables and were grilling brats, turkey, and pork in the bike shelter. Many people brought dishes and there were lots of foods to try.
At the picnic there were Americans, Germans, Russians, Brazilians, Polish people, and Chinese. At first we all sat in out little groups but then students and professors began to play kicker (foosball) and someone took out a soccer ball. The Brazilians began kicking it around and soon a soccer game was going. Many of us could not understand each other but we all understood soccer. (Or football, as they say here.) Kids rotated in and out and they had a lot of fun. One of our female students was so excited because when the Brazilians left, she got her first "culture kiss" on the cheek. Another girl knocked a big guy down while playing soccer. He made her help him up and then he kissed her hand. Laughter definitely is a universal language.

After playing for awhile, Jacob and Michael both removed their sweatshirts. I put them on my lap because I was so cold. A Brazilian girl was sitting on the bench as well and she looked very cold! We lent her Jake's sweatshirt. When he came out of the game, he asked where his sweatshirt was. I pointed to the girl. He didn't ask for it back but she left soon after and returned it to us then, :-)