Sunday, February 12, 2006

11-12 Feb. - Weekend in Bournemouth

I just got back from Bournemouth, where my cousin Susanna and her husband Boureima live. It's about 2.5 hours from Cheltenham , and they were kind enough to drive me all the way back home. Boureima especially is very hospitable, and insisted they drive me back instead of taking me to the train station.

I was down for the weekend to visit, and also to attend a baby shower that Susanna's sister Miriam organised as a surprise. It was quite interesting as baby showers are not as popular here in the UK as they are in the states. Many of the guests were friends of Susanna's and, as you can imagine, not familiar with this sort of thing, (some of them were saying 'I don't know how this whole American custom goes...') but overall everyone seemed to enjoy it. Miriam informed me that the British do something like a bridal shower, called "hen day," where all the bride's friends and such get together for the day and give her gifts and they all go out and do something... it sounds like a cross between our bachelorette parties and bridal showers. But the concept of a baby shower is quite foreign, and I think some of the ladies were surprised to see how many gifts Susanna ended up with. At the same time, I was thinking how I would have expected to see much more at a baby shower back home. But everyone was very generous and Susanna was very grateful (and surprised!)

here's Susanna, Miriam to her left, and in the corner is her friend Beth from London (who went to Bible College in Iowa)


L to R: Aunt Nancy, Ruth & Bryn, me, Susanna & Boureima

My cousin Bryn and Susanna's husband (Boureima) were also at the party--which is another thing you don't see in America-- and Boureima (who's from Burkina Faso, Africa) kept calling it a "Baby Bath". Miriam had called him a few days prior to tell him her plans so that he could keep it as a surprise for Susanna. When we arrived he informed us that he had cleaned the bath tub in preparation for "whatever this baby bath is". We all got a good laugh out of that. : ) He will be a good dad.

Boureima is the field director for Fulani Ministries in Burkina Faso. They plan to return in September, after the baby's born (which could be any day now). I'm excited to see my new cousin!

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