Cornrows!

Update from Aubrey:

A few days ago, my friend Abung Akec invited a few of her friends and me to her hut for a cup of tea. It was a scorching hot afternoon. When I heard about it, the idea sounded nice and I wanted to get to know the girls better, so of course I went. The girls greeted me and gave me a seat under a tree. We started conversing in some mixture of Dinka and English (mostly English) and they decided they were going to braid my hair. I said that was fine, but only because I did not know what I was signing up for.
As she started braiding, I realized that I was getting cornrows. When she started on the third (and most painful) braid, Abuk came out of her hut with the tea. (The Dinka fill the tea mug half way full of sugar, then use the boiling hot tea to dissolve the sugar. I did not know this). I took a sip and did my best not to spit it out from the shock in my mouth. I had never had anything half as sweet! The combination of having my hair done in braids tighter than I ever imagined would be possible and being asked why I’m taking so long with my tea, I was cracking up on the inside and trying not to cry on the outside. For about thirty seconds the pain stopped, and this was the one time they asked me if it hurt. It would have been very rude for me to have said yes, but I did not have to! I thanked God for those thirty seconds. Once it was finished, it was very cool and airy and comfortable (other than the headache). When I took it out, I found that they had actually given me an Afro. My dad will post a photo when he can.