Fourth of July Spectacular at the Sierras!
Jul 8, 2009 18
This past weekend Kairos had a special opportunity to stay in a charming and lovely house in the Sierras. Instead of roughing it, Richard T was able to find us a gorgeous house where all forty of us packed it in. The house was so cozy, each room having their own themes and decorations — there was even a purple room! We were all pretty comfortable even though we had to squeeze forty people into five rooms.
When we arrived and got settled, we prepared to go to Lake Spaulding. When we got there we had a picnic lunch and waited for our kayaks to arrive. However, when some of the brothers brought the trailer, it was empty. (They shall not be named.) Despite this minor setback, the rest of us found a way to occupy ourselves, either by eating, skipping stones, and/or playing with the kids. A short time later, the brothers brought a trailer full of kayaks and oars, and very soon after we were all off into the lake. Of course, regular old kayaking would be boring so we spiced it up a little with splash fights, paddle races, and kayak jousting. It was a full day when we headed back to the house where we thoroughly enjoyed Dora’s Chicken Tiki Masala with garlic naan. After washing and showering up we went outside to play a mysterious game that Josh invented. Once we split into teams, he explained the rules of the game. Needless to say, many of us got quite nauseous after Josh mentioned the title of the game, “Eating Trash Relay”. Each team had to run to and grab and eat an item from a trashbag. Some items include: a whole watermelon slice, Durian wafers, Saltine crackers, black licorice, Spicy V8, and a PB sandwich (yes, there was no J). It didn’t really matter who won or lost, because everyone walked away a loser because of the stomach upset that was caused. After that unusual game, the brothers and sister split off to play normal games like Spoons, Catchphrase, and Pokemon. We all went to bed tired and ready for our next day of adventure!
The next day we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast of corned beef hash and leftover Tiki Masala. We did our DT and drove out to Lake Faucherie. The ride was pretty nice halfway through until we hit unpaved road where all of us bumped along a 45 minuted drive to the lake. A SUV full of brothers bumped too hard and punctured two of their tires. While the rest of us were at the lake having lunch, they had to go back to get the tires fixed. Some sisters made them a lunch to go and we all missed them while having fun at the lake. At the lake we tried catching snakes (some of us successful), fished, skipped stones, played games, and rafted. We then went on a short 0.2 mile hike to see a beautiful waterfall on the other side of the lake. The water was cold and very clear, and the picturesque scene really made me appreciate God’s awesome artistry (who would have thought that water falling from a higher place to a lower place could look so amazing?). We took a memorable picture and hiked back quickly so we could get back to the house in time for dinner and fireworks. We prepared a Korean BBQ feast of salad and kalbi. The house had a great view of the fireworks already so we didn’t have to fight the crowds. After dinner and clean-up the sisters and brothers again split up to play games of our own. The sister played an intense game of King Kong shower. After wards we played…girl stuff, while the brothers were calmly playing instruments in the music room and playing Pokemon again. We all then went to bed, resting before we headed out home the next day.
We woke up the next day and had chicken soup while doing DT. We then cleaned the house hoping it would be spotless so we could develop a good relationship with the owner. Afterwards, we packed all our things and headed to Sierra Lodge to have Sunday worship with Koinoinia, Praxis, and the Staff. Pastor Ed gave a great message about 2 Kings 5 and the story of Naaman, focusing on the other “minor” characters like the servant girl and Naaman’s soldiers. After worship service, we had meatball sandwiches for lunch and then made our way back home. Although we were hindered by the traffic, the sisters made efforts to entertain ouselves with games and singing. When we got to Berkeley, most of us went to Racha Cafe to eat a late dinner. We enjoyed the great food and company telling each other riddles and sharing our food.
It was such a shame to go back home and having to get ready for another week of school, but this Kairos trip was certainly very memorable since it was our whole group together and the first with the newly added A2F Blue group. I made so many great memories (and ate such great food!) and can’t wait for our next Kairos wide trip 
.
