Bonfires and Cows

When we got here we heard about the annual October Bonfire that happens the last weekend of the month. I thought it was just a fire and get together, ya know, something small(ish) and people gather together and hang out for a few hours.... I WAS WRONG... They take their bonfires seriously here :-)

Next Saturday (10/25) is the bonfire. The party kicks off with a Chili Cook-off in the rec center right across the street, people eat, then head over to the field which is about half a football field away. 

On top of the bonfire is an outhouse looking thing and it is decorated with the resident's Alma Mater. The kicker is that in order to have your University's logo painted on the outhouse, you have to donate money in your University's name. The more money donated in the name of a certain school, the bigger the space they have. 

Naturally, since I'm living in an Exxon compound, the place is crawling with TEXANS! That's right... Texas A&M and Texas Tech had the most money donated followed by K-State and LSU in 3rd and 4th place. 

Texas Tech, got their logo painted on the front facing the street for everyone to see

Texas A&M has theirs on the back facing the woods... HOW RUDE! :-) Just Kidding!

K-State and LSU got theirs placed on the roof of the outhouse

I was really impressed with this whole thing. The bidding closed on Tuesday. Like I said, everyone donates in the name of their school. The money is then turned over to local charities, soup kitchen's, and homeless shelters here in Yuzhno. It is pretty amazing how much the expat communities get involved with the city. 

ON Saturday this gets burned down... I have never seen a bonfire quite like this. And I have had the privilege of witnessing some pretty epic bonfires built by the one and only Pat Hurley :-) Pat, if your reading this, I think we need some good old house glue!!! and maybe a Christmas tree or two! 

And now on to the Cows.... I was driving to City Mall this morning and all of a sudden the driver suddenly stopped... I could not believe my eyes. I swear 50 cows came running across the road, then turned toward the car when the Herder appeared. Mike and Ash were a little scared at the whole thing. They had never seen so many cows before. The driver was laughing and so was I. "Crazy,  Cows" is what I heard from the front seat. 

This picture below is the cows in the back of the line before the herd got turned around... SO MANY COWS!!!