Me and My Gomesi, Part II

(Click here to read part I of this post)

That's the bride's side of the family above.  Each side of the family sits facing each other, as each side presents their entire extended family to the other side.  Everyone here has a huge family, so it takes a while...especially because they're cracking jokes at each other the whole time too.

That's us, on the groom's side of the tent.

Pinning a flower on the groom.

The one all the way on the right is the bride.

Then we had to carry in all of the gifts we had brought with us and present them to the bride's family.  Above is me and Sylvia carrying salt wrapped in banana leaves, and below the men are unwrapping a TV.

What's inside the banana leaves??

Chicken!

Me and My Gomesi, Part I

That's Sylvia, my beautiful hostess, getting ready for her brother's Kwanjula.  I'm staying at her place in the area of Namuwongo in Kampala.

All the ladies all dressed up in their colorful Gomesis. I bet you can't tell which one is me.

Loading up the trucks with gifts for the bride's family. Gifts include: cow, goat, chickens, dresser, baskets of food, and other household items.

Looking down the driveway from Sylvia's parents house on top of a hill in Kampala.

Waiting in the shade....

Two weeks ago, I got dressed up in a Gomesi, a traditional Bugandan outfit, and attended a Kwanjula, or Introduction wedding ceremony for Sylvia's brother and his fiancée.

Click here for Part II.

These Are Just A Few Photos From My First Few Days In Kampala!

Lake Victoria from afar

waiting for the cows to cross the road....

roadside furniture anyone?

more on the way....!

First Night in Kampala

Watched football at Obama's Bar in Kabalagala. There seem to be a lot of places named after Obama here!  Then ended up at Al's Bar sometime around 4.  These are the only photos I have from a very fun first night.

Night In Dubai

On my way to Uganda, I had a 12 hour layover in Dubai. Made some friends with a bunch of Americans travelling to the World Cup, and decided to venture out into the hot Dubai night.

That's a blurry picture of me in front of the Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world!  I didn't think I would be very impressed by it. Coming from New York I thought, oh its just another tall building. yawn.  But actually I loved it!  It completely towers over everything around it, because its just SO TALL. My only impression of it was at night, and I thought it was quite nice.

Then we stopped for some drinks.

Then back to the hotel for some sleep before catching the next flight out to Entebbe, Uganda.