So I realize that it has been a pretty long time since I’ve updated… its been a crazy week and the internet has been ndank ndank. Big news here is that the first presidential election in 7 years is on Sunday. It’s a huge deal because it’s only the first election since the current president, Wade, was elected- before that the socialist party had been in power since independence. There’ve been some election-related problems in Dakar, but Saint-Louis is generally more tranquil; especially the university, which is 10 km away. So no worries. But it is really, really interesting watching the posters go up and the caravans drive by, and talking with people about how they feel about the election.

So word on the street is to stay away from Dakar this weekend (in fact they’ve apparently banned all non-election related travel), which is fine with me, because last weekend was my Dakar weekend. And it was AWESOME. I had planned on going back to visit my host family (family including the Americans I lived with, who are amazing) for a few weeks, but on Tuesday I got a text message saying that NdeMarie (my host sister) had decided to be married on Saturday. Until then she hadn’t even been engaged! But yes, she had been with her boyfriend for years. Well really her manfriend- he is almost 50 years old (she’s 20), a French guy who photographs famous musicians for a living. So, my host family was thrilled to have me come back and celebrate with them.

We took what’s called a sept-place down to Dakar- sept-place being an old station wagon (emphasis on OLD) that has half the trunk converted into three more miserably uncomfortable seats. 6 hours in 1/3 of ½ of a trunk in the hot sun without air conditioning, water, or bathroom breaks (and did I mention I’d been sick for a week? I was first diagnosed with dysentery, but it was not, in fact, dystentery. I'm fine now). Yes, I will complain.

The ride down was SO worth it though. The wedding was really something else. Not at ALL like an American wedding (even despite the fact that there is no one “American” style wedding). Festivities started around noon, when the bride came back from having her hair and makeup done and (I believe) after having been sewn into her dress. She was stunning. We all decided that the best way to describe her is “African Wedding Barbi.” And, we got to see two of her outfits, to boot. I promise to post pictures when I can get webshots to work... oh which reminds me, Ouli (host mother) had traditional wedding attire tailor-made for us, so I have pics of me and my friends being as Wolof as a bunch of tubaabs can be at the wedding 

So they had set up an enormous tent in front of the house, spanning the street (who knows what all the cars did..). They hired a DJ and a drum group, and had the most bizarre and hilarious mix of traditional Senegalese music and contemporary rap... it would go from a great reggae-sounding beat to Ridin’ Dirty by Chamillionaire (just your typical wedding song about running from the cops) and Unfaithful by I forgot who (about a woman who’s boyfriend knows she’s cheating on him, but she just can’t stop). I honestly am not sure whether they knew what the songs mean. In any case, after a couple hours the drum group started up, and everyone sat around the edge of the tent listening... then one at a time, people would get up and dance solo to the beat, in the absolute craziest dance I have ever seen in my life. It was incredible. The best way to describe it is they looked like they were on fire. I’ll post a link to a video once I can get it on YouTube. They pulled up the Americans as well, so I ended up dancing as close as I could get to the fire dance, in my Senegalese wedding garb, in front of a hundred guests. It was a total blast. Dancing here is really something...

So this went on all afternoon and into the night, stopping to eat a late lunch. They brought out about 6 communal bowls, and we sat in circles on the ground eating with our hands. It was delicious. Later came some dessert pastries- also delicious. And then more dancing.

What makes this so different from an American celebration is that neither the bride nor the groom were really a part of the celebration. In fact, the groom is not even present at the mosque for the religious ceremony (I didn’t attend this part because women are not allowed- with the exception of the bride). As far as the celebration itself, the bride spends the entire time having professional photos taken alone and with guests, and the groom spent the entire time taking photos of other people (though this may be because he’s a photographer... I’m not sure). In any case, neither the bride nor the groom took part in the dancing or eating.

OH also very different from U.S. tradition is what happened after the celebration... bride and groom decided they wanted to go to a club, so they and a few of the bride’s cousins went dancing downtown at what the groom described to be a “sort of cheesy club.. you know, prostitutes. But great music!” Becky and I were totally up for going... but were not invited. Damn.

So overall, it was a total blast (if a little long). It was also wonderful to see my housemates- we went to the big market at HLM on Saturday before the wedding to get wedding presents (a scarf for the mother, a fancy bracelet for the bride), and went out for a French brunch on Sunday morning (fabulous).

So now I’m back at UGB. Had my first wolof test this morning, which was fine. This morning I thought about writing part of my post about the non-human things I miss from home (it goes without saying that I miss my family and friends)... but actually couldn’t really come up with much. Hot showers, eh... who doesn’t love a cold adventure. Washing machines, not so much; I enjoy the laundry... the food, maybe once in a while I’ll get a craving, but I don’t really think about it much. Then it hit me. SPEAKERS. I only brought my ipod, and I am REALLY missing having speakers. Not to mention all the music that wouldn’t fit in the 2gigs. So, everybody, please listen to some fabulous music for me and dance around for a while.

Well I’ll wrap up here. Thanks everybody for your emails and I’m sorry I’ve been MIA this week! I’m getting on it right now!

xoAwa