They sure know how to party here (which I have mentioned before )– even if it takes them ages to get started. We were told to be at the house by 3pm but we had already been tricked by that one before. If you arrive then you will be the first one there and then sit around for ages waiting for everyone else. We didn't get there until 4.45 and we were still early! People actually kept coming in right up until about 8 o'clock.
After a little speech by the P.O. Welcoming Mark, me and Barbara to the congregation and also a new baby that is about to be born (I have mentioned before that the parties always morph into something else eh?) - they rolled out the entertainment. We had gathered something special was going on as there were lots of coming and goings up and down the stairs by various ones. First of all out came some young ones who did a rock and roll dance in formation, then some older teens did a pasadoble (once again in formation), the young ones came out again and did a couple of traditional dances, a couple of girls sang and then 2 guitar players did their thing.(I have tried to put short bits on the video for you to get a feel for it all.) Of course then they expected Mark and I to show them something – we tried to do a chacha to very unchacha music (we really are going to have to get some more moves – Aaron hurry up and book a flight over here and teach us) – it didn't matter though, whatever we did was appreciated.
By 7.30 ish everyone was up dancing and we were wondering if we were going to get fed as the party was in full swing by then. Thankfully though they hauled out the biggest pot of rice and we were soon chowing down on a very tasty dish. It was like fried rice but not if that makes sense – a squirt of hot sauce made it quite delicious. Then back to dancing as soon as you had your fill.
It was getting on to 9 when to be honest I was quite had it and Jessica (Ohio girl with us) needed to get home too so we went to make our excuses and thanks for the evening. No we were not allowed to leave – they had cake for dessert! I had also taken along a thing I had made – did you know there is a traditional Kiwi dessert made of layers of meringues, cream and boysenberries?I had tried to make meringues for our party on Friday night but with the high altitude- they come out quite flat and flaky so I put them in a bowl as I said with layers of cream and fruit with a sprinkle of chocolate on the top. Went down a treat!
After the long walk home – the girls had brought some coconut ice creams for us earlier on in the day so we poured a little sambuca on top- yum - and sat and chilled for awhile before falling into bed. It was a great night!