This week I thought I would share a little cultural experience with you all. Yesterday I attended my first Rwandan wedding. The wedding was for the brother of my work colleague, Appolinaire and Appolinaire's wife took good care of me all day, translating some of the events from Kinyarwanda.

This is quite an exhaustive event. First thing in the morning, we went to the home of the bride's family. This is where the groom's family offers gifts to the bride's family to show their love and to give a sort of dowry. The most prized of all gifts is the cow. This event is not without comedy, in that the bride's father presented many girls to the groom's father before finally bringing out the bride. Also of great importance is the drinking of banana juice from a traditional vessel sort of thing.

The second segment of the day was the actual wedding ceremony. IN this case it took place at a pentecostal church, with two full choirs and bands. The event is more lively than any wedding I have ever attended in the states, though the couple sat through the ceremony with blank stares and only spoke when they read the vows and exchanged the rings. In fact throughout much of the ceremony, the only people doing much talking are the fathers of the couple. After the ceremony they went to take pictures on one of the roundabouts. They were exclaiming how beautiful the roundabout was with a statue and "gardens." To me it was just some sparse grass on cement in the middle of the city with hundreds of cars, but what can I say?

Next we went on to a reception downtown, in what looked like a warehouse (and the bathrooms were the most horrendous that I have seen yet - for those of you have seen Trainspotting, think of the scene of the worst bathroom in Scotland). The reception was dry, but there was plenty of Fanta. At the reception there was the traditional Rwandan dances and also the choirs sang it up again. The fathers also did a skit in which the bride's father promised that the girl was well educated and that she would behave and the groom's father promised that they would take good care of her and thank you for giving him such a beautiful daughter. This is quite traditional and to me it objectified the daughter, but I will save you my gender analysis of the events. At the end of the reception everybody lines up to give their gifts and to greet the bride and groom. I must note that the appearance of the present is much more important than the gift. It your gift is not properly wrapped, with ribbons and all, then you may as not bring a gift at all! And the packaging and wrapping typically costs more than the gift itself.

Then we were off again!

After the reception everybody escorts the wife and groom to their home where they will live together. I was overly exhausted by this point and my work colleague sent me home. But overall very enjoyable day. I especially enjoyed Appolinaire's wife, who I was surprised to find was my own age.