Wedding, July 3rd

Jambo
Today was my first full day in Kenya! We arrived safely, the flights were uneventful. Today we got the opportunity to go to a wedding; it was a great introduction to Kenya. It was a fairly typical wedding, complete with unflattering bridesmaid dresses. The bride wore a typical white dress and the groom wore a suit. The guests were very welcoming, several people came up and introduced themselves. We were invited by a friend of the bride, we were a little reluctant to go because we didn't know the couple but we were assured that 'everyone goes to weddings' and we were not 'wedding crashers'. They were unfamiliar with the concept of crashing a wedding, apparently everyone, invited or not, really does go to weddings.
The Kenyan people have been incredibly welcoming and kind. On the way home from the airport we drove through many parts of Nairobi, it amounted to a driving tour of the city. (It took us over three hours to reach the HEART compound, the traffic was unusually horrible). Nairobi is large, according to our driver around four million people. It is definitely a city, there are hospitals, markets, restaurants, and hardware stores. There is a considerable amount of infrastructure, although there is also significant poverty. On the way back from the airport we saw many shacks by the road where people live and work. There were also chickens and goats running around by the side of the road. On Tuesday I will go to the Kibera slum. It is one of the largest slums in the world, around 1.5 million people live there. I'll keep you posted on my adventures,
Margaret