Today we said goodbye to my mom and left the house to head to Danny's first field trip. My mom stayed home with Josh and Dustin took my mom to the airport--her flight left before we were back from the fieldtrip. While it was too bad I was not able to take her to the airport, I think in some ways it made it a little easier as I had something to focus on other than her departure.
We got to school and Danny's teacher handed out these blue smocks. Each class had a different color and it was there way of being able to spot and count the children. This was a little funny in the fact that a child could not come unless a caregiver came with them. I say caregiver as there were plenty of kids there with their ayis and not a parent. I could not imagine with the caregiver present that a child could get separated from the group, yet I guess it is better to be safe than sorry.
At 8:30 we headed to the busses and took off for the organic vegetable farm. It was not too long of a drive--about 30 minutes, and we arrived at the farm. Unfortunately we lost a lot of time in waiting for everyone to use the bathrooms--while not a squat pot (typical Chinese toilet) there were only a single male and female bathroom in less than cleanly conditions--plus apparently half way through the toilet seat fell off the one in the women's bathroom. Not so easy with a bunch of preschoolers--the oldest being 4.
After waiting about 20 minutes in hot sun--apparently the little cool off we had a day ago was gone and it felt strangely like summer again--our guide came out and took us to our first area. While she spoke English, she did not really give us any information except what the plant was, and how to pick it. Our first stop was lettuce. We went from one spot to another, and while it was a lot of fun to watch the kids pick vegetables, I wish they would have at least talked about why they were an organic farm and how that is different from other farms. The kids finished up with getting a plant of their own--bak choy--Chinese cabbage to grow at home.
After our tour and picking vegetables, we had our lunches that the school provided to us. It was tuna fish on pita bread (mind you it was sitting in the sun for the entire time we walked around--so all the moms ate after giving a silent prayer) and half a turkey sandwich--it is not a big surprise that most moms ate the tuna while the kids atebthe turkey sandwichs. They also provided cut up vegetables. We all ate in a circle on plastic chairs that the farm provided.
We finished eating, and then went down to the market (another missed opportunity for them to talk to the kids) where they were packaging up the vegetables for the local grocery stores. Danny helped me pick out two pumpkins and some vegetables for us to purchase and take home. I was really excited to see the pumpkins and told Danny we would carve them on Sunday before church.
We headed back to the school, and after I got Danny down for his nap I headed off to the store to get items I needed for Danny's birthday party the next day. After trying to be fast at the store--they had rearranged everything in the store, and I did not know where anything was located--Dustin and I settled on McDonalds for dinner.
Overall, Danny's first fieldtrip was a lot of fun and most importantly he had a great time. I was so grateful to be able to share this memory with him. We are looking forward to tomorrow when we celebrate his birthday as a family and with a big friends party.
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