Today is Saturday.

I woke up this morning at 5am due to a rooster. 

This lovely, wonderful rooster has a backstory. Somewhat. 

He's actually a gift for my friend Dacia, from my friend Josh who is housing us.

Well, the rooster is for Dacia's African father, who is giving his blessing to Josh to marry Dacia today.

This "blessing" ceremony is called an Introduction. But, for this story to make somewhat sense to you, I'm going to start over...

I woke up this morning at 5am due to a rooster. That rooster was creating so much noise, it was nearly impossible to sleep. Josh, the keeper of the house, resolved the problem fairly quickly thanks to the many rocks we have around the outside of our home. 

Once I was up, I was up. I guess it was a good thing because I could get my devotion done for the day right as the sun was rising. I feel like that is my favorite time to do my devotion. Bright and early. 

I also got to talk to many friends back home. Since it was 5 am here, it was 11pm at home and 10pm in El Salvador (for when I talk to Kaylee). So that was extremely nice to talk to them.

Later that day, around 10am, my mother and I departed the house to go pick our Gomezi's (Go-mez-ee), which is an African traditional dress for women. We needed one of these to wear to our friends' Dacia and Josh's Introduction. They both met and live here in Jinja, so they saw it right to include Africa into their marriage. An Introduction is basically the couple announcing their engagement to be married. The groom spends a ton of money on gifts to give to the father (fruits, veggies, animals) to show his love for Dacia. If the father accepts these gifts, he has then given his blessing. The whole ceremony lasts about 4-6 hours and usually starts 2-4 hours after the original set time. 

But it is indeed a fun time! The entire introduction is meant to be comical. It is meant to create a fun and friendly atmosphere to the engagement process. I got to meet many new people and reconnect with familiar faces. I even received a traditional Ugandan buffet dinner! And it was so good (well, the stuff I decided to eat)! This might have been where the rooster came into play...

Once the ceremony ended, it was already dark. My family then left and we went on our way. Oh, and if you all remember when my family tried to adopt those two children from Bukaleba a couple years ago, they were there as well! It was so nice to see them and how big they have got. 

We finished the night watching Captain Phillips and quickly went to bed shortly after. 

sincerely yours,

Katie Sandy