nawl

In one weekend. No funerals, though.

I was, er, late to both weddings, so that I missed the content parts of both ceremonies, and thus my chance to observe cultural mixing in action.

The first wedding was held in a district building, and run by a female government official. The building was wedding mayhem, as at least two other wedding parties were waiting outside for their turn when I arrived. I'm guessing it was like that all day. The second was in a church, and nobody else was there.

There were no bridesmaids, groomsmen, maids of honor, or best men. You just pick your best friends to witness, and don't burden them with other activities. The organizational role played by the best man is usually done by a professional man that you hire for the day. At midnight the bride danced with everyone there, until she was carried away by the groom.

The music was *awful*. But I was informed that it has to be this way to please the old people. Imagine a guy on a synthesizer accompanied by a guy on a saxophone playing oompah-techno Hungarian songs. Dancing was amusing, partly because all of the friends invited were ballroom dancers, and partly because the oompah-techno necessitated, well, dancing folk dance steps very badly. It's been a long time since I did such a satisfying polka.

Old people who tried to initiate polite conversation with me were shocked to discover that I wasn't Hungarian. I felt sort of bad about not being able to make polite conversation with strangers.

I'm told that a Hungarian country wedding is completely different, and is a day-long affair packed with bizarre traditions that you invite the whole village to. The groom has to ask the bride out of her house, the hired organizer man plays a much bigger role, people give money on top of presents, the feast is enormous, and I don't remember what else.

At my going-away party, I showed pictures of my last going-away party. Sigh.

Leaving for Oslo tomorrow afternoon.