Yesterday was interesting. We said good bye to five more volunteers yesterday who have gone back home to the US and Canada, four of whom were healthy. (sorry Blake, I'm sure the malaria will clear up with the medicine) Now there are only seven of us left at the house, and soon most of the rest will go. In a couple weeks there will be a huge group of new volunteers, 27 or so, and the house will be full again.
I spent a good couple hours yesterday drawing a map of Africa on a school room wall. Nikki is
painting her nursery school room and wants to put different designs on the wall, numbers, letters, and in my case, a map of Africa. I've drawn the outline in chalk and today will go over the lines with black paint. Hopefully I'll get the chance to fill in the countries with different colors, and I also plan to do a map of Tanzania on another wall. It's fun doing these paintings on the wall, makes me feel like a Renaissance artist.
Last night we at CCS were all invited to a wedding. I'm still not entirely sure who's wedding it was, but Mama Thea, who's house we live in, was the organizer of the wedding. I believe it was one of her nephews who was married. We didn't go to the ceremony it self, but to the reception afterwards.
The reception was held in the YMCA hall in Moshi. We got there a little after eight in the evening and the place was packed. The walls were white painted cinder-blocks covered in white cloth, and white and green cloth was draped from the walls to hanging plants down the center of the room. Inside the cloth and along the walls were lines of small white lights. The hall has a ribbed tin ceiling held up with red rafters, and some of the green balloons had floated up and moved back and forth in the breeze. Most of the hall was filled with white covered tables, and most of the tables were filled with people. At the head of the room sat the bride and groom along with several other important people, behind them the wall was covered with white flowers and lights.
In the back were several rows of folding chairs for people who came late, like us. We sat down and were brought drinks, but after only a few minutes a table was offered to us and we sat down. The reception was like many I've seen, with the bride and groom sitting in nice chairs while lots of people take the mike to make sort, or not so short speeches. It was all done in Swahili of course, but from what Mama Lilian translated for us it was all pretty standard stuff. We had drinks, and when it was time for food we tried to get just a little but ended up with full plates.
There were several things that were a little different about the reception from one's I'm familiar
with. The first being that they didn't start off by cutting a cake and feeding it to each other, but instead had a roasted goat (imagine a full roasted pig with the apple in its mouth but the head still had the fur and horns on it) which was cut into small pieces and fed by the bride and groom to the various family members. A cake was brought in later and the ceremony repeated. Also, the whole event was very late, we got there after eight and didn't leave until almost midnight, and when we left no one else had. I have the feeling they were there for several more hours. The bride wore a beautiful white dress like in a wedding back home, though the groom had on a white suit instead of a tux. And in one corner there was a small brass band, and one of the trumpets would occasionally punctuate something said by whom ever was speaking.
My favorite part had to be the presentation of the gifts however. What happens is that everyone who was invited comes up in groups, family members form the bride and groom's sides, friends, and co-workers. the bride and groom stand at one end of the hall with the best man and a bride's maid, and the group is announced and with their gifts dances in a line down the length of the hall to music provided by the band. You dance up, drop off your present, shake the hands of the wedding party and offer congratulations, then dance in the general area while the rest of your group does the same. Then there is a small speech given by some one in your group, and then you dance your way back out in a line again so the next group can do the same.
As I said, we left around midnight, and the dancing hadn't even started yet. All in all it was a very interesting experience, though I felt somewhat under dressed for the occasion. When I get a new camera cable I'll be putting up pictures so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.
I spent a good couple hours yesterday drawing a map of Africa on a school room wall. Nikki is
painting her nursery school room and wants to put different designs on the wall, numbers, letters, and in my case, a map of Africa. I've drawn the outline in chalk and today will go over the lines with black paint. Hopefully I'll get the chance to fill in the countries with different colors, and I also plan to do a map of Tanzania on another wall. It's fun doing these paintings on the wall, makes me feel like a Renaissance artist.Last night we at CCS were all invited to a wedding. I'm still not entirely sure who's wedding it was, but Mama Thea, who's house we live in, was the organizer of the wedding. I believe it was one of her nephews who was married. We didn't go to the ceremony it self, but to the reception afterwards.
The reception was held in the YMCA hall in Moshi. We got there a little after eight in the evening and the place was packed. The walls were white painted cinder-blocks covered in white cloth, and white and green cloth was draped from the walls to hanging plants down the center of the room. Inside the cloth and along the walls were lines of small white lights. The hall has a ribbed tin ceiling held up with red rafters, and some of the green balloons had floated up and moved back and forth in the breeze. Most of the hall was filled with white covered tables, and most of the tables were filled with people. At the head of the room sat the bride and groom along with several other important people, behind them the wall was covered with white flowers and lights.
In the back were several rows of folding chairs for people who came late, like us. We sat down and were brought drinks, but after only a few minutes a table was offered to us and we sat down. The reception was like many I've seen, with the bride and groom sitting in nice chairs while lots of people take the mike to make sort, or not so short speeches. It was all done in Swahili of course, but from what Mama Lilian translated for us it was all pretty standard stuff. We had drinks, and when it was time for food we tried to get just a little but ended up with full plates.There were several things that were a little different about the reception from one's I'm familiar
with. The first being that they didn't start off by cutting a cake and feeding it to each other, but instead had a roasted goat (imagine a full roasted pig with the apple in its mouth but the head still had the fur and horns on it) which was cut into small pieces and fed by the bride and groom to the various family members. A cake was brought in later and the ceremony repeated. Also, the whole event was very late, we got there after eight and didn't leave until almost midnight, and when we left no one else had. I have the feeling they were there for several more hours. The bride wore a beautiful white dress like in a wedding back home, though the groom had on a white suit instead of a tux. And in one corner there was a small brass band, and one of the trumpets would occasionally punctuate something said by whom ever was speaking.My favorite part had to be the presentation of the gifts however. What happens is that everyone who was invited comes up in groups, family members form the bride and groom's sides, friends, and co-workers. the bride and groom stand at one end of the hall with the best man and a bride's maid, and the group is announced and with their gifts dances in a line down the length of the hall to music provided by the band. You dance up, drop off your present, shake the hands of the wedding party and offer congratulations, then dance in the general area while the rest of your group does the same. Then there is a small speech given by some one in your group, and then you dance your way back out in a line again so the next group can do the same.
As I said, we left around midnight, and the dancing hadn't even started yet. All in all it was a very interesting experience, though I felt somewhat under dressed for the occasion. When I get a new camera cable I'll be putting up pictures so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.
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