Monday night update

Well, we are through the wedding, and it was a wonderfully exciting, overwhelming event. Friday night we had a rehearsal dinner here at Miriam's home. We had about 45 people, of which there were multiple doctors, the lawyer represnting two African countries in the US, multiple Harvard MBA grads, at least one Wharton School grad, the son of a Nobel Prize winner, and the president of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and all the most down-to-earth, interesting people you could imagine. There was a wonderful group of Nigerwives, wives of Nigerians who have moved from other places in the world to work and live in Nigeria - from Italy, Russia, Romania, the US, England, all over. To provide contrast, there were two folks from the flatlands of the Michigan thumb, and three more from the backwoods of Maine. It was an amazing evening, with goat, a mashed bean dish something like mashed potatoes and available either unsmoked or smoked, a chopped cooked greens dish, fruit, fruit, fruit, a fish dish, and items too difficult to describe, and last but not least, American style potato salad! It was a beautiful night, so people spread to outside tables, where animated discussions were everywhere. We sat the the president of the Presbyterian seminary and his wife, who is nationally or internationally known for her work with childrens' choirs. It took some prodding - they were very humble about their work - but she finally told of some of her experiences around the country with huge gatherings of childrens' choirs, with working with movie producers and actors, with famous musicians. Very interesting.
Saturday opened with a gathering in the dining room for food and review of the day's activities. We needed to be at the church at 10 AM or so, with the ceremony to begin at 11. There was lots of dressing, hair, makeup - I looked pretty good after all that, I thought. Mary Ann thought it was a little over the top. Anyway, my suit for the day was a nice pair of trousers under a nearly knee length top, open partway up the sides, with heavy duty bling bling at the neck. Mary Ann had a beautiful dress, embroidered below the waist, in a very elegant grey blue. She also received a headwrap, in blue and silver, that was done by two women that came to the house expressly for that purpose. Really pretty amazing - they would pull and twist and yank the stiff, starched fabric, then tie knots to keep it in a certain shape, and then straighten, curl, and so forth to form a sort of hat. Very elegant, and classy. It helped us blend in .....
We headed off to the church, a sort of national cathedral for the country in downtown Abuja, right next to a huge mosque. The church had a large beautiful pipe organ, with seating for perhaps several thousand, and a central platform. We used about 1/4 of the area, with perhaps 300-400 guests. At one point folks got pretty excited and security people were on their toes - the vice president of Nigeria, having been invited, decided to attend. People were very respectful and pleased. He took a chair off to the side and received guests while we waited for the bride to arrive. Being on Nigeria time, she arrived fashionably late, and the ceremony got under way. It was lovely. Beautiful music provided by the Abuja Vocal Chorus, with soloists. Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World", "Ave Maria", and "Oh Happy Day". Great variety. And Rev. Dean Thomson, from Louisville PTS did a very nice job, and was extremely pleased to be doing it - a big smile on his face throughout!
We had pictures in front of the church, then loaded onto buses to go to a local park, where a HUGE tent had been set up. Open sides were much appreciated - it was a very hot day. Probably low to mid-nineties - I don't know, it is hard to guess. Pretty oppressive for Mary Ann and me. The food was served at the table, more or less to order, but the poor waiter didn't know what to do with us. He said they had a few things for us - did we want him to bring them? Yes, yes, of course. We got some barbecued chicken, on the spicy side, some boiled potatoes, some raw vegetable, Nigerian chicken pepper soup, and a nice ice cream dessert, all of which we found very good and satisfying. Lots of activities after dinner. One that I enjoyed most was something called the mothers' dance. Miriam and the groom's mother got up to do a sort of line dance, and pretty quickly, all the Niger wives got up to join. Then all of the moms in the place went up, and it was quite a sight. It began raining at one point, and rained quite hard and long, but the tent was great protection, and we didn't miss a beat. We finally headed home in the early evening, only to find that the newlyweds had rented a club for more dancing! That took off at 11 until the wee hours. I must admit M.A. and I went to bed instead.
A few bits and pieces to note -
- The ladies put the centerpieces for 40+ tables together here at the house of local flowers and greens, provided by a friend of the family from her garden. They were very unusual, and beautiful. Oranges, pinks, reds, some very weird squiggly white things. Very cool. Lots of work, and Mary Ann used her Zehnder's experience to organize the effort.
- The backyard of the house is a beautiful lush green lawn. Turns out it is not always so, but Turner has been sneaking out at night for ten dayswith the hose, with wondrous results.
- At the peak, there were 17 sleeping in the house. Turner, with a flourish, announced Sunday morning that, finally, for the first time since they have lived here, the house "is fully deployed". He and Miriam were also very sly in giving their room to some of us guests, and taking a small room behind the garage. Very kind of them. They claim the bed is excellent.
- Sunday was supposed to be a low key affair, but people came out of the woodwork around breakfast time, and we had a hullabaloo in the dining room, eating and talking and passing little Hella Yenimi from person to person. 20-25 folks most of the time, and lots of good Kenyan coffee.
- Most guests outside the family stayed at the Abuja Hilton, the most profitable Hilton in the world. 85% occupancy, and the most complete facility to serve travellers' needs in the city. Quite a place. Turner, in his role as manager of transportation services, had two 30 passenger buses available, and most of the time one would go to or from home, while the other went to or from the Hilton.
- An amazing array of nationalities were represented. US, England, France, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Israel, India, South Africa, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Russia, Romania.

Pictures tomorrow, I promise. Many guests left Monday morning early, with the rest out of here today. Ebitari, Miriam's other daughter, and her husband Matt go to Lagos tomorrow morning, so the house will be pretty quiet. I'm not sure I'll like it, but it should allow me to catch up some more on my picture embedding skills.
Mary Ann and I are marveling at our good fortune in being able to make this trip. It is such an expansion of our knowlwdge and experience. It changes your whole view of the world. You should try it....
Love, Jim and Mary ann