A Star from Mosul

My cousin's wedding was few days ago. We first went to my uncle's house, waited till all the relatives were there and then we all hit the road to the bride's parents' house to pick up the bride and her relatives. It is a custom to decorate and put flowers on the car in which both the bride and the groom will sit, and also blow our horns as we approach the family's house so they'd know we've arrived.

On our way back to my uncle's house, where the wedding was supposed to be, the groom's car got too hot and stopped.. The poor bride and groom had to move to another cousin's car in the middle of the street.

There were some Iraqi soldiers close by the house, they knew there was a wedding because of all the beeping. They usually get too excited and fire their arms when the cars pass by. My aunt opened the window and specifically asked them not to. My cousin's car arrived before us, and me, being the one in charge of videoing as usual, had to get there before they entered the house.. I left our car and ran towards the house, and the soldiers decided it was time to fire.. I was so ANGRY I really wanted to turn and shout at them but I was sane enough and decided to go on. I'm sure for few moments after the shooting the video would be all shaky!

As we arrived to my uncle's house, all wet and sweating, it was 5 PM, the electricity was off and the neighborhood's generator's owner decided to change the time he switches it on to 7 PM instead of 5 without even giving them a notice. They tried to turn on the big house generator but it just wouldn't work, and so we settled with the small one.. it was about 5:30 then, and the bride and the guests were sitting in the dark for half an hour. The bride took few moments to cry, she didn't expect the shooting and it frightened her.

The rest of the wedding was ok.. but the real fun started when the bride's family left and our family men entered carrying the groom on their shoulders, shouting and chanting..

Hope the bride and groom live happily ever after..