Labor Day Weekend

Normally John and I spend our weekends just lounging around but this weekend was action packed. Friday night we played volleyball at the church with the missionaries. John's friend Mike came with us and there were almost 30 people there. We had two games going and John's team and my team ended up battling for the championship. It was a really close game but John's team won. He was really excited since last week we went to play and he pulled a muscle in his neck before the game even started. He was really bummed that he didn't get to play. He made up for it this week by spiking and stuffing and blocking all the way to the gold. It was a fun night and afterwards we went to Sonic and got slushies.
Saturday we studied and then went to the pool in the late afternoon. We had the pool to ourselves for most of the time, we kind of wondered why there weren't more people there on a labor day weekend afternoon. There was actually a UGA vs GSU football game going on, the first of the season. We didn't mind missing the game for a little quiet sunning. That night we went over to the Brown's for a rousing game of Pinochle. The boys won 2 games and the girls won one by shooting the moon (That means that you bet from the beginning of the round that you can win the round and by doing so win the whole game). It was a really fun and exciting night.
Sunday John's friend Mike came to church with us. The missionaries invited him when he came to volleyball with us and he said yes! We were excited to have a friend come with us and the meeting was really good. After church we had a potluck and I made some New Orleans Red Beans and Rice. I've had it before and it was really good but I've never actually made it myself. First I had to overcome the challenge of having it cooked and hot in time for the potluck, which started right after church. That was easy, I decided to cook it in a crockpot in the church kitchen while we were in our meetings. My second obstacle was having rice cooked and ready in time for the potluck. I decided that I just wouldn't bring any rice and people could just eat the sauce plain. (It's like pastey sauce with beans and spicy sausage and ham in it.) Well I couldn't get to my crockpot fast enough and by the time I got to the kitchen it had already been set out for people to eat. I hadn't tasted it or checked if the beans were done or anything. When I found it on the table it looked more like a bean soup than a paste. The beans were cooked which was a relief but I wasn't sure if I should take it off the table since I wasn't sure if it tasted good. I ended up just leaving it and I actually had some people tell me that they liked it. I guess I believe them! That night we talked to our families and just relaxed.
Monday we went on a Picnic to Ft Pulaski with our friends Gina and Cody Ballard. It was kind of windy and we were risking having storms from the outskirts of Hurricane Gustav but it ended up being a really nice day. We explored the fort a little and saw our first Alligator in the moat around the fort! Afterwards, we went downtown to the City Market to have Gelatoh (Italian icecream) and to see St. John's Cathedral. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed hanging out with our friends Gina and Cody.

The alligator in the moat


St. John's Cathedral, downtown Savannah

Mike Jecen, John's classmate, and our Korean barbecue

That night we had a Korean barbecue with Mike. He came over to our apartment and cooked us marinated beef strips and sticky rice with kelp. We really enjoyed it, the kelp was better than I expected. After dinner we played a couple rounds of Boogle, which John dominated in, thanks to all the practice he's getting with the boggle on his iphone.