How many heads of cattle?

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So... yesterday I went to a Maasai ceremony. It was a surprise outing, and I am so glad I was able to go to one before leaving, especially because the very week after I leave there is a milk ceremony and Maasai wedding that I would have missed. Boo 😞

Anyway, the Maasai ceremony was for a little boy's circumcision - I think that's the time they are promoted to Or'Morrhani, the warrior class - maybe? Anyway the Maasai, on special occasions, paint their face with a type of powder that looks like red ochre. The substance is made from local plants, smashed and plastered and pasted and dried until it looks like cumin or paprika. It's as red as the dirt on the ground but harder to get out of clothes - and kind of stains your face, so thank goodness I got too dark this year for you to still see it after a week of washing... Last year I missed out on getting my face ceremonially painted and I was hoping for a chance to do that this year. I mentioned it to Teddy and she, in all her glory, found a girl with some of the colorful red powder. Suddenly I'm swarmed. All these little girls wanted to paint my face! So I thought what the hey, when in Africa... I'm about to get a stick shoved into my face when all of a sudden an elder comes over, grabs the stick aka Maasai paint brush, takes my bangs and yanks my head back - yes, it hurt - and drawing. It took about 10-15 minutes and I came out painted with an experience to match that was just amazing. 😊 I said "Asante sana (thank you very much)" and then we left.

Today the elder was at camp!!! WHAT?!?! He came bearing gifts? Or something? For ME?
He said he disliked my new copper bracelets. I mean I like them but I guess to him they are flimsy and not as nice as other materials so he came to give/sell me these new, heavier, and much thicker metal bracelets. I was freaked out at first - how do you politely say no to a village elder - and somehow tricked Menge, a student from Mwanza studying in Canada, to come and help us out by talking to the elder as we slipped away.

Later I came back and he was gone but the bracelets are still here.

So... Yeah. I mean I have a boyfriend and stuff but if the cattle amount is right, I might accept being a village elder's concubine, what can I say.

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