On left was a braai of meat and chicken wings on sticks. In the middle was the braai for (my favorite) roosterbrood.
Willy prayed the blessing on the food and the gathering of family. Meat is a big part of the celebratory meals in Namibia so there is meat, chicken, a green salad and bread.
My other favorite- cake(s) for dessert!
The adults gather outside to talk. At large gatherings like this, most of the time the conversation is all in Afrikaans. My pre-school level Afrikaans is totally inadequate. Sometimes there is a person willing to translate for me and that is actually helping me learn Afrikaans because I can immediately check to see if I understand. In this case it was Willy's daughter-in-law Benlynn who is originally from South Africa and now lives with his son Richard and their two boys Willis and Ethan in Swakopmund. They gave me a lift back to Kalkfeld on their 5 hour drive back home. A truly delightful family!
Cutting the cake (s), the littlest ones are here for the treat.
When I don't have a translator, or when I suspect my translator is getting tired of trying to keep me up on the conversation, I go and hang out with the kids. They usually are happy to talk in English. Here they were watching Hotel Transylvania and I joined them. But we also had a long and delightful conversation about school and sports. They asked surprisingly few questions about the United States and seemed happy to share their lives with me and everything they thought I needed to know about Namibia and South Africa (including, of course, what seems to be a favorite topic-which snakes and spiders to avoid). I enjoyed talking with them and the whole gathering very much.
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