Nowroze (part 2)

For the last day of Nowroze, you are supposed to go out for a picnic and enjoy nature. So, Saturday morning Roshan and I met with our friends, Besra and Gizem, and went to the Belgrade Forest for a picnic. The weather was wonderful. Unfortunately, to get to the forest (and the fresh air within), we had to wait for a bus at the Mecdiköy bus station which was designed in such a way it seems to suck in exaust from the street in addition to the exaust which pours out from the multitude of busses which sit with their motors running there. Surprisingly, we did not perish from asphixiation but managed to get to the forest. We went to a different area than the time we went before. This part of the forest was the location of the water reservoirs. So as not to be chastised by local store owners, we had remembered to bring bottles and cups to put the water in. (Besra and her water cup) There were little faucets scattered around this part of the forest among the picnic tables and at the start of some trails. We filled up and started walking. Almost immediately we came to a locked gate and barbed wire fence. The fence had a huge hole in it and there was a well worn trail progressing from the hole. We went on through. It turned out to be a wonderful trail around the reservoir, a pleasant escape from the cars and the loud radios of people picnicing. We walked around the lake, listening to birds, enjoying the small flowers that were beginning to bloom and talking. We walked around the lake and ended up at the picnic area we started at. From this side there was no fence. I guess the path was one way only. We walked to a table which was far enough away from the parking lot that the sounds of the car radios couldn't reach us and had our picnic. We were right next to a pond. All of a sudden the air was filled with the strange squaking sounds of the frogs. I never realized how many different sounds frogs make. In the US they croak, in Kul'dur (where I was in Russia), they "kvak" almost like chickens and in the Belgrade forest they make another sound like some kind of bird. We'd come across several frogs while walking. As I went down to the pond, they leapt from the ground in front of my feet into the water. In the pond there were bunches of clear jelly frog eggs. I hear so much about how frogs are dissapearing because they are so sensitive to environmental changes and pollution (since they get it both in the air and water), it is nice to see that there are places where they still thrive. I also saw some really cool water bugs as I was investigating the pond. They cut leafs into little ovals and atached them together, two on their backs and two on their bellies to create little suits for themselves. I began to wonder if perhaps bugs have a sense of fashion since they seemed to like combining two different colored leaf circles. After lunch, rather belated fire jumping, frog watching, and a very short game of frisbee, we headed back to the city.