Flower girl

Maya's nanny Tibby got married two weeks ago and Maya was the flower girl in the wedding. She was a little nervous when we first got there, and seemed also a bit fearful of losing Tibby to her new husband, E. But she quickly warmed up in time to walk down the aisle. Mike signed the wedding contract as a witness and walked Tibby down the aisle.

Later, Maya found a couple of girls her age and they played, danced, went up on the stage with the bride, and fed each other wedding cake (after watching Tibby and E feed each other). Maya chattered away with the girls in Amharic, although Tibby says she thought they only speak Tigrinya. But Maya didn't have any difficulties communicating with them. I guess they may have known a little, and Maya also may know some Tigrinya words from hearing Tibby talk on the phone. Who knows. Maybe 3-year-olds don't really need a common language to communicate. Anyway, they got along great.

We also had a fantastic buffet with traditional food -- yummy wats and soft drinks in glass bottles.

It was a really great wedding with Tibby and E smiling and whispering to each other on the stage. They are very cute together. Tibby wore a really beautiful white wedding dress. And the whole community was there -- all dressed up. It turned out we knew quite a few of the guests, although it was hard to recognise people in formal dresses with their hair done up. I did a few double takes. Guests were dressed beautifully.

It was also really cool to see Maya interacting with the Ethiopian/Horn of Africa community. They really accept her so completely and draw her into the community. They ALL know her, and they are really nice to her. (Actually I think she gets a bit of special treatment!). It was so nice to see Maya feel totally at home in the community at the wedding, collecting bottle caps strewn on the floor after dinner with the other kids, running up and down the aisle, getting scolded by the women for being rowdy (along with all the other kids), oohing and aahing as the vats of yummy wat and huge plates of injera were carried in to the hall for the buffet.

I posted some pictures. I don't want to post pictures of Tibby or E online, although I would be happy to share pictures with those of you who know her. (No, the pictures with the orange beads were Maya trying on her flower girl dress at home. She had white beads tied back for the wedding -- but the pictures from home are cute so I'm posting them)