8:00 left for church with my neighbor, Sarah, and my head teacher's family. They go to a Jehovah's Witness church where Sarah is a sign language interpreter for a deaf man that attends. Malawian sign language is very similar to ASL so between the little Chichewa I know, and the few signs I recognized, I was able to follow about half the service. The deaf man's name is Joseph and, since he also knows a little American Sign Language, I was able to talk to him for a while. I think the rest of the congregation was dumbfounded by the azungu (white person) signing, and I got a lot of stares. But by now I'm pretty used to that. After church we went outside because Sarah wanted to take a picture with me. Others were watching us and, before I knew what was happening, a line had formed and I was taking a picture with almost every person there. I felt like a celebrity. Or a meet-and-greet Disney character.
2:00 I attended my first ever wedding! Although I have never been to an American wedding, I believe I can safely say that this was not at all similar. It felt more like an outdoor concert or an all-village picnic. There was a makeshift stage set up in the middle of the primary school field and a huge crowd gathered around it. There was a mosh pit type set up where people danced in the middle of the crowd. More people were scattered, standing and sitting, throughout the field talking. There were the food vendors, who are usually at the market, selling water and snacks. On the stage, the bride and groom sat, while an MC played music and yelled into a mic. From what I gathered his main job was to collect money and people danced up to the stage to donated to the new couple. The MC announce each donation and the total amount received. The entire time I was there the bride and groom stayed sitting on the stage, watching the people in the crowd and looking thoroughly bored and unhappy. It made me wonder what the circumstances of the marriage were and whether they wanted the wedding at all. The event started at 2:00 and I stayed for about 2 hours. At some point I was handed an adorable child named Eliza and I held her for a while. It is now almost 8 and I can still hear the celebration from my house in full swing, with no signs of wrapping up soon. The wedding was the first village event I have been to and it was really cool because, even though I still got stared at a lot, many people knew who I was and came up to greet me or talk. And all of them tried to get me to dance. Which I did not.
5:30 my bed, which I ordered about a week ago, finally arrived! The carpenter just finished it today and rode it to my house on the back of his bike. I wish I had taken a picture because a twin sized bed strapped to the back of a bike is really an unusual sight. (But apparently not as unusual as a white person at a wedding). I'm really excited about not sleeping on the floor anymore! and now my room smells like fresh cut wood and sawdust, which I love :)
7:00 my head teacher's daughter came over to my house with a bag full of food containers. Her mother had cooked me dinner and sent me over a picnic of eggs, vegetables, and nsima. So I poured myself a glass of wine and had a lovely relaxing dinner by lamplight (because at this point it is dark and I have no electricity).
7:45 I am now getting ready for bed and looking forward to my first day of school tomorrow!
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