Day on a boat in the Ob Sea

We got to sleep in for the first time last night. We met at 10:30 and took a bus to our boat. It was dark and cloudy. Our boat looked like a small battle ship. We got on and took off. Before long they brought out beer,of course room temp, we took at long ride. The head of the international studies department, a 26 year old woman who teaches English, a photographer and journalist fr the university and her husband, along with our two traveling professors--one a Dr. of computer science and his wife a Dr. of Geography, along with our captain Dr. Green, and the 12 of us were the guest on a typical Russian day at the lake bar-b-q. It didn't take long and they brought out the food. Bags of fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, dill, cheese, two kinds of meats, breads. They had brought a knife and cutting board and one of them just started cutting. Everything is so low key here compared to home. If we had been planning this day we would have taken hours to load the boat with everything we thought we needed for a day on the lake. It did start to rain but we kept going. There was a covered area with a table and benches. We just ate and drank and talked English and Russian(the best we could) with everyone there. We then pulled ashore and they got this long plank and threw it out on the bank, They said come on and I was about the second to try it. I scooted down on my booty. It was scary. They had brought a small grill and they brought out raw charcoal and lit it up. They brought the benches off the boat for us to sit on. They began to make chicken k-bobs. They had brought the chicken in a sauce of mayo, dill, red peppers and yellow peppers, mushrooms. They put it on the grill. cooked it and just handed us the stick to eat. Delicious. After everyone finished they pulled out pork and began to cut and make pork k-bobs. We ate those. In the mean time everyone was just sitting around the shore, some were in the water just relaxing and talking. After awhile he pulls out a watermelon and cuts it for us. I can't tell you how relaxing and simple it was and how great it was. We all kept talking about how complicated we would have made the same outting at home. The foodwas the best we have had the whole trip. Galena the 26 year old and I made friends and had a great time talking about weddings. That's what I'm focusing on. She told me she really enjoyed talking about our cultural differences. We became facebook friends. WE gothome about 5:30 and were given our first free time. We leave for Barnnal tomorrow, which is a 100 miles from here. Oh i forgot to tell you abut another guest. She was an ecology scientist and while we were out there she gave us a lecture on the Sea and fish located there. That is the fun of this, we have lectures in the coolest places. I asked Lena who had planned the day and she laughed and said she did, that if it was up to Dr. Green all we would do is have lectures!!!!