Long day, long post

Yesterday was a pretty tiring affair. I met up with Roses from the Dental Team and we were supposed to meet a day worker down at the gate at 10. We ended up standing there for a hour (along with some little boys who thought my hair was a wig...) before she came.
Luckily there wasn't too much traffic (there is always SOME traffic in Freetown), and we made it to the wedding on time.

A hour and a half later the wedding actually started. I should have guessed how the wedding would turn out when I saw that there were six officiating pastors. The wedding was long and I got really hungry so the ceremony was sort of a blur, but I'll try to write down what I remember.
Regina was supposed to walk down the aisle while we all sang a hymn, but the flower girls refused to budge and we had to sing the song twice while some adults herded the girls down the aisle. There was one little girl dressed in a little bridal outfit and the program listed her as 'Little Bride' but I never found out what exactly that was about.
The part I disliked the most was that Regina and Anthony (the groom) both sat facing the altar and the wedding party sat in a semi-circle around them so you never really were able to see them. This also meant the photographers were constantly walking around them trying to get good shots.
Then the main pastor gave a declaration of purpose, another pastor read the legal declaration, the main pastor led the vows and the giving of the rings. We sang another hymn, then they proclaimed them married and Anthony unveiled Regina, and everyone got up and danced and sang and came up to congratulate them. Then Francis, who works on the ship, sang a song.

Another pastor got up and gave a message. A long message. During this part it started to rain heavily outside. Even though we were inside the room had windows that couldn't close and the wind pushed the rain inside the church right on the side I was sitting. Everyone quickly packed themselves onto the other side and we stayed that way until the message was over, when the rain finally stopped and some bridesmaids mopped the floor with rags.
Then Regina and Anthony stood up by the altar and everyone got up and gave them money. Then they had another offering for the pastors. After this the bride and groom left briefly to go sign their marriage papers along with five of the pastors, various family members and other witnesses while Regina's nieces sang a song. A group from Anthony's new ministry then sang a song.

By this part I was ready to go, and so was Roses. When we got down to the road the wedding party came out so we stayed for a bit longer to take some pictures then we left to go back to the ship. And I scarfed down the sandwich I had stowed in my bag as I hadn't eaten in almost eight hours.
The wedding was about four hours long, later I found out that in Sierra Leone the wedding ceremony is very long while the reception is very short! We also passed by several other weddings that were happening on the way back to the ship.

I got back right before dinner, so I showered and ate then crashed for a hour. I got up and went to the library and saw Roses there. She showed me some of the pictures she had taken and then I went back to my cabin and went to sleep as I had to get up at 6 to work today.