First, realize the time on the invitation is in no way related to the time the wedding will start! Sarah and I went to a wedding yesterday of one of my former student-teachers and the current head teacher of the primary school here on base at En Gedi. When we went to Magreth's wedding in November, it was an hour and a half later starting than the invitation said, so yesterday, we were in no hurry to arrive, getting there an hour and a half late. This time, the wedding was in full swing, the church was completely packed, and we stood outside for the remaining hour and a half!
Which brings me to my second point: this is an all day and, if you go to the reception, an all night event! The wedding may have started at 12, and we left the reception shortly after 8, and we weren't the last people to leave!
Thirdly, make sure you know where the church is! There were no directions on the invitation, just the name of the church. I asked at my church and got what I thought were fairly good directions, but after driving till the road we were on became little more than a track, we decided to call someone to find out. One of the parents of Sarah's student, Noel, lives in the area, so she caled him and he graciously gave us directons and met us to get us started on the right way. That's part of the reason we were late!
Fourthly, if you are the only 2 white people there, expect to be noticed, even if there are hundreds of other people! Needless to say, it's hard to blend in with the crowd! People here don't think staring is rude, so we smiled a lot, played with children, and had to get over the idea of not being seen!
Lastly, expect to be bored a lot (with hours in Swahili!), but also expect to have fun! I saw so many ex-students from when I was at Joshua before, several current students, so enjoyed seeing all the pretty, colorful clothes, was in a great outdoor garden setting as the sun set, finally ate a really good meal, and just smiled so much my cheeks hurt!
Sadly, forgot to take my camera when I changed purses, but I may get some pictures from Sarah.
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