the mountains sans kids

I went to the mountains last week for 3 whole days. And it was with friends. And Johnny kept our boys. It was fun! And I missed my boys, too. But it was fun! The sunshine was awesome, and we kept the pace pretty slow and low-key. Visited some friends, tried to visit some friends that weren't there, and made some new friends!

We were invited to sit down with some cool ladies. One of them spoke the language we've learned for 4 plus years. The others all spoke their local dialect that we don't speak at all (but that gives us lots of motivation to learn!!). And they were on a little break when we stopped.

And then the break ended. And they all went back to building this monstrous house together for one of the ladies (also doing labor) in the community. Pretty awesome system, in my opinion. I helped load and lift one basket full of rocks. Made me feel like a total wimp. Which, really, I am.

I really love these tractors that carry stuff in the back. I think that some September/October I want to load one down with hay and take the boys for a hayride. But this one is loaded down with rocks--way more useful for the work everyone was doing.

And we found a small temple. We went in, and the little monk tried to get us to say things to all the pictures of other higher up monks, but we're not really into that.

After which we played with balloons outside the temple with the village kids. And their grandpa. I only have his picture. Isn't he cute?

It was a good trip. Johnny and I want to try to be out there for a couple weeks/months at a time sometime next semester. Crossing our fingers...

PS the top picture is the backdrop to the workers that were working on the house. Pretty awesome. My friend said something about becoming immune to it. I do wonder if it's possible to become immune to the beauty. And then I think, Nah, not possible!