Barbeque South African Style

(Dawn) So much is happening so fast that it is hard to keep up with all the people we are meeting and the fun things we are doing. Before we went to Australia we were invited to a fellow pathologist's lifestyle plot for a South African barbeque. Julian and Karen live on some acreage so Karen can keep her horses. They came to New Zealand to start a new life because of political instability in South Africa. There were 2 doctors and one dentist from South Africa there and we were interested in hearing about the political and social unrest in Africa. Most were Afrikaans and speak English but also a form of Dutch. One wife is English- South African. It is so fascinating to hear people's life stories of growing up, being educated and seeing their world change. I know we don't write about the people we are meeting much but we are having the most amazing conversations about God, the world political climate, social issues, books, America, democracy, history, dictators, government, and all these intellectually challenging topics. It really may sound dull to some but we are loving this lesson in sociology. Having a meal shared is like the TV show The View among people that like each other. I especially wish I had my American friends Carleen and Melissa here to chime in on all things thought provoking. Much is learned over an afternoon cup of tea or a post dinner glass of wine. It is everything that good conversation with good company hopes to be. Plus we are getting to do things we never imagined like feed Julian's new baby calf because they had slaughtered their ox for the barbeque. The ox was DELICIOUS! I don't want to think too much about that cute baby calf in about 2 years!