"she welcomed us well."

My dinner guests just left.

Funny thing is, 2.5 hours ago I didn't know I was having dinner guests. 

See, in Ugandan culture, welcoming people to your home is vitally important--as in, you are considered pretty rude if some comes to your house and you don't say 'you are welcome' or 'welcome.' Then you should ask how they are, how their family is (if you know the person somewhat well), and of course, you'll answer those questions in turn. Then there's an awkward pause*, for you as the host should never just come out and say 'well, whatdaya want?' So to compensate for the awkwardness, you can invite the person inside or offer them a drink, which they'll either accept (meaning they're not in a hurry) or graciously decline (which means they're about to tell you why they're there).

If the person accepts and comes inside, then you'll both drink some water and the awkward pause will continue, only this time you are seated, so it's a little more comfortable. Eventually, your visitor will come out with why they are visiting...and if they don't, then probably they were just thinking of you or they were in the neighborhood and stopped by to say hi.

So, all that to say, if your visitor happens to arrive around a mealtime or during a mealtime...well, let's just say that holding dinner until they leave isn't exactly kosher. Hence, tonight I had two dinner guests. I'm housesittting for a family as they took a 4 day weekend, and some of the kids from their family group stopped by, for apparently these two come every Saturday to help out around the house. Well, they happened to arrive around dinner time and we chatted and I invited them in for dinner...because I wasn't really sure what else to do! I was eating a very non-Ugandan meal; it was more of an Italian theme, with pasta, ground beef, tomatoes, and onions. And pineapple for dessert, because we do live on the equator, after all. It wasn't anything fancy, and the dinner conversation was pretty minimal since it's considered rude to talk while eating in Ugandan culture...plus, I was out of conversation topics. The kids enjoyed the meal, though; even though it was brand new to them, they both went back for seconds!

So the dinner was over; what next? Dishes, I thought, we should do the dishes. But as I began to rise, one of the kids stopped me. "Let us pray," she said and both kids assumed the prayer position. Slightly confused (maybe this is what their family group does after meals?? maybe this is an NHU tradition I don't know about yet??), I followed suit, unprepared to be astonished, humbled, and blessed by this prayer. She thanked God for bringing me there, for making me a mom to them, and then uttered a simple statement that warmed my heart immensely: "She welcomed us well." 

It's encouraging to realize that even though many times this new culture baffles me, today I can say that for a few moments, at least, I knew what was culturally expected of me and I was able to do it successfully.

*note: I'm not sure if Ugandans find the pause awkward. The awkwardness might just be a Western thing.