Watch the Walk

  (Note: normally I don't talk about this on the blog, but my financial needs have gone up due to rising insurance rates in the US. If you feel led to increase support, start supporting me financially, or direct a friend my way, you can find more information on my support page: http://abbysturner.blogspot.com/p/support-info.html . Thanks!) Besides lots of cooking every day and making flower necklaces for the big events, weddings mean a lot of discussions and a lot of dancing. The former creates stress, the latter relieves it. From an outsider’s perspective, every wedding is the same. It’s not like you have to rehearse all the motions and figure out where everyone will stand. But here are a few details that have to be figured out: -           Who will dress the bride and do her hair and henna? -           How will everyone who helps out be fed? -        ...

20 kilos of flour and who knows how much coconut milk Last week I spent a bunch of time helping out and hanging out with a couple of good friends' wedding activities. Here on Clove Island, couples will often get married but then wait until they have a lot of money saved up to do the big wedding that's composed of multiple events. Here's a bit of what's involved in a wedding: 1) lots of cooking. 2) flower necklaces 3) family fights rolling the dough 4) stressed out brides 5) dancing 6) pictures Of course, to write about all of this in one post would be quite the long post, so here's the first installment of "wedding talk"  --- Cooking. During the wedding week, the bride's house (and the groom's too) is filled with women. Some women are making cakes/goodies for the exchange of gifts from one family to another, some women are cooking food for the bride to gift the groom, and some women are cooking food for everyone who is gathered at the house to work...