Family Weddings... LOVE THEM!

My last few weeks in Nam at the end of the year were very busy. Somehow my schedule was filled with family events and work events up until the time I left. One of my cousins got married in a village right out side of Rundu(Roo-un-du) called, Kaisosi (Ka-e-so-si), it was a good time. This time no one is my family was in the immediate wedding party so there was not all the craziness there was last time for Aunt Betty's wedding. I will start from the beginning since this time my family took me to ALL of it!

A week before the ceremony...

My family picked me up at my flat to take me to Church. It was a Catholic Mass and even though it was in Rukwangali (Rook-waan-gal-e)I still knew what was going on thanks to the many masses I have attended. I would answer in English and I think my host mom was proud that her daughter knew when to kneel and stand. I am not a total heathen! At the end of mass they announced the wedding of the bride and groom! After church we had a celebration procession (this happens a lot at weddings) to the brides homestead. We got here at 10 and we were just going to hang out until 4 to start the next event. My mom offered to take me home and pick me up, but I wanted the full experience so I sat around on the homestead and listened to people talking about different things. At 4:00 the meme's who were cooking snuck me into the room to feed me. Then we took a procession to the bride and grooms house and hung the flag outside to symbolize the start of the celebration! After a lot of dancing and cheering I went home at about 9 or ten at night. The food was good, the people were great!

The next Saturday...

My family picked me up at 8 am for a day of festivities. We went to the same Catholic Church for the wedding had the ceremony which was a few hours then went to a lodge nearby to take pictures. The reception took place at Rundu Secondary School (I got a little mixed up and went to the wrong wedding reception.. whoops! At least it was a wedding reception!) The ceremony was hot b/c it was in a small room with bad ventilation and about 200 people. It was a great wedding I think the pictures show it better than I can explain it.