Listen to the Locals

Emily and I woke up to beautiful snow falling out our window in Langmusi so we stayed in bed waiting for it to abate, but all the time enjoying the beautiful view out our window and our electric heating pads. By 10 O'Clock it had picked up and we could no longer sit still (or at least I could not). We went in search of breakfast, made new friends and ran into our Israeli friends from the previous night. They had invited us to join them for Passover and were nice enough to translate into English for us. By 1 O'Clock, the sun was peaking out and we were both wound up and ready to do something so we set out on a hike. We started out of town and got a notion to head down by the pigs/lambs/goats, cross the river and gain a ridgeline for a nice view. I have no idea how we planned to cross the river since there was no way I planned to put my bare feet in it as it was littered with trash, the toilets were all located along the river and we had just seen a large dead bloated pig floating down the river. I would rather have spent the night with rats than touch the river. By a local home we decied that we could cut down to the river, thru the livestock along a cement fence that delineated their house. As we started to head down along the fence, a girl came out and pantomined that we should not go that way. She led us down towards another route, motioning for us to go that way. We did notice one dog growling but it appeared to be on a chain. We tried to go that way again and she pulled us back. My instict said that we should listen to her but Emily still wanted to go that way so I decided to be a sheep. The girl motioned for me to pick up rocks to throw at the dog so I did. Emily boldly walked towards the cement fence that she was going to follow down to the river. Two huge dogs that weighed more than the girl and Emily tore out and took after Emily. I threw my rocks, hit the dogs but they didn't even miss a beat. Before I knew what had happened, Emily turned around started running, tripped and the dogs were on top of her. The savior girl must have been a sprinter in a previous life because she pulled the dogs off of her and authoritatively yelled at them, they responded, sending them running, still I don't think I had blinked and she was pulling Emily up and dusting her off. My heart was racing and I know Emily's must have been going even faster. We felt like the biggest fools ever, as we were and should have guessed what she was trying to tell us and know that the dog was there to protect the livestock. It didn't take us long to head down the road. Emily was lucky and just suffered a few scrapes but I think ever since we have been watching treating dogs as if they are killer dogs.