There seems to be nothing more social than attending a Sudanese wedding. So, naturally we took the invitation to attend the wedding of the brother of a friend of a friend in a village close-by. I had been to that specific village before when we were invited for a Ramadan meal, but by then it was quite dark and without electricity it had been quite difficult to distinguish the different faces. The moment we arrived in the village for the wedding attendance, I realized that all the women in the village seemed to have remembered my face very well! "Hello Mrs. Frank!", "We have missed you, have you missed us?", " How are your parents?" were questions that came my direction before I even had the chance to sit down. Somehow all the beautiful faces of the women looked slightly familiar, but to be quite honest, it also felt like I just met some of them for the first time (-you probably all know the feeling that someone on the street greets you very enthusiastically and you have no idea who he or she is ;). It anyway didn't seem to matter, because all the women greeted me so warmly and introduced themselves again elaborately while nibbling on some sweets and hugging me every few minutes. I simply love this friendly, distinctively Sudanese custom where people will always greet others like good old friends; whether your face looks familiar or not! An inspiring example for all, I would say..
Friday, November 16, 2012
Familiar faces
There seems to be nothing more social than attending a Sudanese wedding. So, naturally we took the invitation to attend the wedding of the brother of a friend of a friend in a village close-by. I had been to that specific village before when we were invited for a Ramadan meal, but by then it was quite dark and without electricity it had been quite difficult to distinguish the different faces. The moment we arrived in the village for the wedding attendance, I realized that all the women in the village seemed to have remembered my face very well! "Hello Mrs. Frank!", "We have missed you, have you missed us?", " How are your parents?" were questions that came my direction before I even had the chance to sit down. Somehow all the beautiful faces of the women looked slightly familiar, but to be quite honest, it also felt like I just met some of them for the first time (-you probably all know the feeling that someone on the street greets you very enthusiastically and you have no idea who he or she is ;). It anyway didn't seem to matter, because all the women greeted me so warmly and introduced themselves again elaborately while nibbling on some sweets and hugging me every few minutes. I simply love this friendly, distinctively Sudanese custom where people will always greet others like good old friends; whether your face looks familiar or not! An inspiring example for all, I would say..
