Did it really take all day? How I got BRAIDS

Hey people. So this past Saturday I went to a salon in Mbale just down the road from where we live with our cook Mercy and three team members including my cousin Jen. I will say it right now......... it was an experience. We all got braids with extensions and lets just say that our hair all ended up a LOT longer than we thought and it took a LOT longer than we thought too. Like 5 hours longer than we thought. I wish I was kidding, but I am not!! Here is them starting:

Probably about three hours later it looked like this:And then probably 5 and half more hours later it looked like this:


Yeah, that's right, it took NINE HOURS to end up with hair like this:

It was a very cultural experience to see how the salons work here. Also, to know that their concept of time is a lot different from our concept of time. Our cook told us it would only take 4 hours! We had NO idea we would be there pretty much all day. It was ridiculous! And sadly, I had to sit on the concrete floor on a mat to get this done... after 6 hours on the floor I seriously wanted to die. I was scheming the negative blog post I would write about the experience and how all that came of it was me looking like I had dreds. I was wishing I could just take it all back because:

A. My butt was about to fall off
B. I was sweating buckets
C. My head had never been yanked at so much. I seriously had to grit my teeth to get through that pain.
D. I was starving and
E. MY BUTT WAS ABOUT TO FALL OFF!

Kudos to the African women that get this done all the time!! The lady that was doing my hair made me sit on the ground so that she didn't have to stand up, which I understand b/c she was doing strenuous work... but seriously after 6 hours I basically told her that I had to sit in a chair. And let me tell you... once I was in the plastic chair it was like a different experience all together. I was so happy! I have never been so happy! My mood PLUMMETED! That might sound retarded, but my bum was in serious pain. Haha, so now, I have long long braids and it is great. Sadly none of the pictures show how long it is... but lets just say it is a little longer than my hair was before I got it cut a couple months back. The beauty too is that it can be styled a million different ways! I have never had so much hair in my life and sometimes I feel like I have a mop on my head and would really like to yank it off. But hey, it is fun, and now I am more African and all my team members kept telling me how greatly I am pulling the look off so that is good! Here's to having long hair again!