after 2 days of non-stop wedding ceremony fun, we had a 2 day hiatus from the festivities. kinda. we still had parties to attend, but of a purely social nature. farhan's high school buds helena, zoe and joost trickled in from their respective countries to join the wedding throng. we were fast friends. after their arrivals, we had a slight scare. a suicide bomber killed a shia priest about 10 minutes from our house. but really, no trip to pakistan would be complete with a little bomb scare, right? it barely made the news back home, but we let our loved ones know we were okay just in case. i was having clothes fitted that day and could barely get this top to fit over my head. or you could consider it a scare tactic.
meanwhile, as we endured what we gingerly termed "house arrest," we took turns getting henna on our hands. before the wedding, the bride has a mehendi ceremony where the bridal party gets painted with henna. 3 ladies came to our house and spent hours painting different designs on us all. arzoo's henna was of course the most elaborate work, trailing all the way up her arms and covering her feet and legs as well. the henna is like a brown paste that dries and cracks and rubs off the skin after 2-3 hours, leaving behind red tattoos that last for days/weeks. i still have faded evidence on the palms of my hands. note the peacock on the back of arzoo's hands. cool, eh?
after 2 days of non-stop wedding ceremony fun, we had a 2 day hiatus from the festivities. kinda. we still had parties to attend, but of a purely social nature. farhan's high school buds helena, zoe and joost trickled in from their respective countries to join the wedding throng. we were fast friends. after their arrivals, we had a slight scare. a suicide bomber killed a shia priest about 10 minutes from our house. but really, no trip to pakistan would be complete with a little bomb scare, right? it barely made the news back home, but we let our loved ones know we were okay just in case. i was having clothes fitted that day and could barely get this top to fit over my head. or you could consider it a scare tactic.
meanwhile, as we endured what we gingerly termed "house arrest," we took turns getting henna on our hands. before the wedding, the bride has a mehendi ceremony where the bridal party gets painted with henna. 3 ladies came to our house and spent hours painting different designs on us all. arzoo's henna was of course the most elaborate work, trailing all the way up her arms and covering her feet and legs as well. the henna is like a brown paste that dries and cracks and rubs off the skin after 2-3 hours, leaving behind red tattoos that last for days/weeks. i still have faded evidence on the palms of my hands. note the peacock on the back of arzoo's hands. cool, eh?
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