Thursday afternoon I returned home right after training was over. Both of my families have wanted to braid my hair and I'd finally caved in. I had resisted it because 1) I knew it would be painful and 2) I knew my head would end up looking rediculous. My sisters took turns over nearly 3 hours braiding my hair. (And yes, it was painful and I look slightly rediculous). This was all in preperation for my cousin (I'm using the term 'cousin' loosely- I'm not quite sure how we're related) Boniaface's wedding, which was yesterday.

Friday evenings my family is usually at church until 8 pm. I returned home just before 7 looking forward to relaxing for a bit before dinner. Instead, I returned home to about 30 relatives and guests. There were five or six bonfires going on in the courtyard out back. Mamas were frying plaintains and fish, breaking down chicken and goat and doing other preperations for the next days celebration. And although the sounds of palm oil frying, traditional music and laughter kept me up most of the night it was neat to be right in the middle of it all.

I was able to invite several of my friends to come along and as the wedding was to begin at 2 we made sure to be at my house by 1 so as to grab a moto together to the church. My mama suggested we go hang out in town because, "In Africa we don't really respect time. If you get to the church at 2 it will be empty. Just be there at 3." I should have known; I'm slowly getting used to everything running late here. So we went into town, enjoyed some yogurt in the shade and got to the church just after 3. Eventually we began what I like to think of as the pre-show: singing, clapping, dancing in your seats which lasted a couple of hours. Finally the wedding began; it was pretty much like a wedding ceremony as we know it. White dress, veil, father gave her away, exchanging of vows and rings, me nearly losing it and crying...the usual. It was a great experience, I really enjoyed getting to meet all of the family and guests and helping out a bit with all of the preperations.

Today I'm meeting up with some of the other stagiares to make some christmas cards and listen to some holiday music- even if its hot and a bit humid today with Thanksgiving around the corner I'm looking forward to beginning the holiday season! We are celebrating Thanksgiving at our training site; some of the trainee have even bought a turkey, Gobbles, who is living out behind our training site right now. This afternoon I'm picking up my swearing in pagne (we all will be wearing the same fabric, like Destinys Child). Swearing in is on the 1st, so soon- I'm so excited to move to post!