Weave, dancing, and friendship

What a weekend.

Saturday began bright and early; leaving the house at 8 AM, I was getting ready to say goodbye to my hair. My friend Cassie’s host sister has a salon, and wanted to ‘plate’ it (we call it a ‘weave’ in the States). I was game! The whole process took about 5 ½ hours, and let me tell you, was it painful! I now don’t have to wash my hair, though, for however long it’s in! I actually can’t get it wet at all, so I plan on getting it out in about a month when we go raft the Nile. It was really heavy at first—when it was done, I actually struggled against the weight to keep my head up! But by Sunday I was used to the weight... still getting used to ‘doing’ it though; when it’s in a ponytail, I can’t even fit it all in one hand! Try that one on for size. Definitely much more hair than I had before!

When I got home that night, my sister was so excited about my hair that she squealed and hugged me! Then my cousin, basically brother David, hugged me when he saw it as well. They really liked that I got it done! Even my brothers and neighbor boys who were giving me a hard time about it the night before, saying that it was only something that old married women do to their hair, said it looked good. (Yes, the night before, I was in the kitchen with my 2 brothers, 19 and 20, and the neighbor who is about the same age, asking for hair advice after they told me I was going to look like an old married woman with kids. HA! It was a priceless moment asking for hair advice from three guys. Come to find out, they thought I was doing something else to my hair. What a relief!)

Saturday evening, I stayed at Cassie’s house for the graduation party they were hosting. Not gonna lie, most of it was pretty boring—just a bunch of speeches to the graduate in Luganda, so I couldn’t understand a thing. However, the party ended with a bit of a dance session. (Oh yeah, so people here listen to country music! Say what?! It’s awesome. During the grad party the DJ played some country songs during transition times!) It was mostly just the kids dancing, but let me tell you, my soul was coming alive. I have never felt so at place before! Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but seriously, I never wanted to leave that African dance party.

When Sunday rolled around, I remembered that one of my new found friends from the jerry can crew was going to be leaving the following day for boarding school. SAD DAY! I had written her a letter the day I found out she was going to be leaving, and I wanted to give it to her. I went to go find her, and when I got to her house and she saw me, she ran up screaming and jumped in my arms, feet off the ground. It was so precious! I’m seriously sad that this girl is going to be leaving in a few days. We hung out for the remainder of the evening at my house. I had homework to do, so I brought my book out on our porch and read to her a few chapters, and then she read to me a few. I’m sad that she’ll be leaving, but I’m glad that not all of the kids are leaving!