Yesterday was Korite, the official end to Ramadan. It is a huge holiday here in Senegal. Everyone eats a ton and goes visiting in their finest clothes. Unfortunately, my taille basse was not ready in time, but my host sister was kind enough to lend me one of hers! We ate and drank attaya (Senegalese tea) and friends came to our home. After eating, we put on formal clothes and I walked with Khadim and his friend Alioune to visit their friends in some neighborhoods close by. Most of the people we visited were Baye Falls or their families. I got such a big compliment at one house when one girl asked if I was French!Everyone was quite welcoming during our visits and I look forward to getting to see some of the people I met again. Especially the girls my age! I would love to get to hang out with some of my Senegalese peers because sometimes it is a little much to be around twenty-something men. One girl wants to practice her English and asked if I would help her in exchange for practicing Wolof, which I enthusiastically agreed to. After visiting, Khadim, Alioune and I rested for awhile before going out to find somewhere to go dancing. We didn't do much, but I did teach the boys the meaning of the word sassy. Basically, I just rejected Khadim's pleas for me to help him find an American to date in a sassy fashion and then had to find a good adjective to use to describe myself. So we rested for awhile and decided to get a move on after hearing from Khadim's sister. People go out/stay out obscenely late here. I get the impression everyone would laugh really hard if I tried to explain 2am bar close. We hung out at my house until about 12:30 and then headed to the house of Khadim's sister. His youngest sister is visiting right now (from France I think?), so there were two women in their twenty-somethings/young thirties and another cousin who is around Khadim's age I think. They were all really really nice and had some really funny kids. At one point, the daughter and son of Khadim's older sister did some traditional Senegalese dancing they had just learned and also strutted their stuff like models. Very sassy. I couldn't believe how late the little kids stayed up! When we left around 3:30, they were both up to say good bye to their mother! I don't know how much of that was korite/celebration and how much was daily life. Regardless, I admired their ability to stay up because at that time I was struggling.
But I had to wake up because it was 3:30 and finally time to go dancing! I was entirely unprepared for the level that women go to to beautify themselves here. I had put on a bit of makeup and a dress that I thought would be good for going out, but boy was I mistaken! His sisters are fashinistas that rocked microminis, tanks, teased hair, and three to four inch heels! They were hot stuff for sure. Fortunately, his younger sister is very kind and decided to dress me up a little, lending me a micro mini (although I maintained my leggings) and a tank to wear. She tried to get me to wear heels, but they were all so tall/too big and I thought I might kill myself trying to dance in them. I get the impression that Khadim's sisters are very well connected because they very much had hook ups at a great club in Ngor (a fancier part of Dakar). We arrived around 4 am at a club called Casino (where one can occasionally find celebs! No Akon last night though) and it was bumpin! I think it was extra busy because of Korite, but Khadim's cousin told me that on weekends it is always really full. We could barely move when we got to the bar, so Khadim's sister found a bouncer to take us to the booth that was reserved for us! It was nuts because the floor was packed shoulder to shoulder (at one point I think someone attempted to pickpocket me...?), but we had a nice bench to sit on and enjoy the champagne that his sister promptly ordered. His sisters also knew the DJ and got songs dedicated to them. The music was mostly American rap and pop, which the DJ frequently interrupted with his French slang. I was glad to know most of the music as it made dancing really fun. The funniest part of being on the dance floor was watching people watch themselves dance in the mirrors. I guess it is an accepted/cool thing to check yourself out in the mirror because the first four rows of people next to the mirrors were all dancing by themselves, looking at what they were doing. I don't know if all clubs are like that, but I guess it would be weird if that only happened at Casino. There was also a special performance for korite with drumming and Senegalese dancing, which was super cool to see, but it meant that we only got to dance for about an hour before I decided that it was time to go home. I probably would have stayed longer except that it was 6am and I figure that I want to try to do something else during the course of the weekend. I didn't want to waste all my energy on one night! It was a great night though! I owe Khadim's family a big thank you for a Korite well spent and a superb introduction into Dakar nightlife. It was a far cry from the hookah bar I hit up with my classmates last weekend, but both have their benefits. Right now it is raining so much that the floors of my house are flooding a bit. Everyone is mopping it up and it isn't a big deal, but I hope that it doesn't get worse before the rain stops. Flooding is a really big issue here during the rainy season, especially in the suburbs. Nothing is really designed to drain water, so it just stays around in people's houses, on roads, etc. The other day one of our classes had to be canceled because the prof lives in the burbs and only managed to make four kilometers progress towards our school in more than two hours! That is one thing that is truly difficult for me to fathom, but it is the reality here. I can't wait for the rainy season to be over, although I am going to have to wait awhile for that!
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