A-Rod Around: Wedding with Friends

Susan passing out cake

My friend Susan's uncle got married today. She had been asking me to attend this wedding for months. Since it was the day before camp would start I was hesitant to commit. I also don't like attending functions that I don't have close friends in because they are long, tiresome, and too much attention is given to the token white person in the audience - me.

A few weeks ago I finally agreed to go to this wedding. Susan would be a maid in the wedding and my friends Maureen, Norah and Andrew were also going to attend. Susan met my PCV friend Khrissee at counselor training and they hit it off so an invitation was also extended to Khrissee. The plan was to meet Norah and Maureen at 2 and go to the wedding together. Khrissee and I took a bit more time getting ready (we even put on make-up and perfume!) but met up with the girls around 2:30. They were not ready. We made it to the wedding around 3 and found ourselves some of the first guests to arrive! Finally at almost 5 pm, the wedding party arrived. What followed were traditional dances, speeches, prayers and food. We slipped out after eating due to the fact that I still had several things to accomplish before camp starts tomorrow.

I enjoyed my time at the wedding today. I have great friends that I converse with and feel comfortable to joke, laugh and share my life with. I used to dread events because people didn't know how to talk to me and I would spend most of the time being stared at or sitting alone. Now, I have good friends that I feel at ease with and I find myself wanting to spend time with them like at special events. It's nice to see how far I have come in my relationships over the last almost 2 years. I am so very thankful for these opportunities to have authentic friends here in Uganda.

Khrissee and I dressed and ready to go