Ganesha Temple

There has been a lot that has happened in the last two days, so I'm going to try and blog about what I can! Sorry if it's not everything!
Yesterday was a holiday to celebrate the God Ganesh- I wrote about the morning puja yesterday, but what I didn't write about was the EVENING puja. Last night at about 8:00 p.m., my host family and I left the house to go to a betrothal ceremony- we could only stay for a few minutes, but it was cool. It was held at a big hall that was decorated with lights on the outside and while approaching the building, I could hear the loud drums coming from inside.
We were only there for about fifteen minutes, but I got to see the bride and groom to be in their fancy outfits! They were completely covered from head to toe with beautiful garlands of flowers and gold jewelry.
After leaving the ceremony, my host parents and I drove for about twenty minutes- farther than I've traveled in the city so far- to go to a temple for Lord Ganesha. This temple (unlike the temple in the morning) was HUGE and completely designated to Ganesha. We arrived at about 9:00 p.m. to a beautifully decorated building- complete with flashing lights and an arch made of flowers and plants that welcomed us into the temple.
We took off our chappals to the right of the entrance and then bought some flowers from a vendor standing nearby- I bought the two things that are meant to be "special" to Ganesha- some grass and a certain type of flower that has no English name. My host parents and I then put our offerings together in a basket and entered the temple- to come face to face with Piriyanga's parents! What a surprise! We had no idea that they would be there so it was kinda fun to see them!
We waited in line for a few minutes with our offerings before we reached the front and could see into the shrine for Ganesha- it was magnificent! The entire Ganesha statue was made from solid gold, and was covered in strings of flowers, with baskets and baskets of offerings laid out in front of him. The "Iyer" (basically the priest) took the basket of offerings from my hand and turned and walked into the shrine to do a puja with our offerings- he chanted over the God and placed our offerings around him.
After spending a few moments at the temple walking around and viewing the carvings of the Gods on the walls, we left to go home. We drove back through the dark streets (at a VERY high speed I might add) and got back to the apartment around 10:00 p.m., just in time for me to go to bed!