Nothing like a congolese wedding!

My friend Joseph got married this past weekend. Now do keep in mind that the entire ceremony was in French and so I didn't actually understand much of anything but I am pretty confident I could pick up the jist of it all via actions.

The ceremony was held about half an hour from TASOK in a very confusing location. The thing about driving around Kinshasa is that there aren't any street signs, and honestly every street looks exactly like every other street with colorfully painted one story buildings and people galore. We had been given directions to the church but without many prominent landmarks the church was all but impossible to find. After some brushes with death in the car as we tired to maneuver the streets and make uturns where uturns should not be attempted, and stopping for directions about five times we found the church.

Although the ceremony was to start at five o'clock we were still early when we arrived at 5:35 and entered an empty church. Fortunately the wait wasn't too long and the pre-ceremony music started quite early.

A Congolese band of two female singers, three male singers, a drummer, and occasional keyboarder and guitarist rocked out the wedding with some of the best music I've ever heard. Surprisingly enough the sound system of the church put IPCK's (the church I've been going to) system to shame. This was no sit down event. The audience stood, danced, clapped, and cheered for large portions of the event. Some of my favorite audience members were the many women adorned with coaching whistles who blew the whistles to their hearts desire throughout the evening. I particularly loved the part of the ceremony when the attendees danced forward their gift and presented it to the couple at the front of the church. One group of women even came forward with their silly string and covered the bride and groom in a colorful array of pink, yellow and green strings. I was so happy to experience the joy, love and happiness the crowd exhibited to the newlyweds and the event will be one of my very fond memories.