Well shit. I just need to say that I am having a blast. I really like the clubs here - I wonder if there are clubs in the USA like this and I just never sought them out. I don't really know why I never liked rap and RnB, it's good shit. The DJ at Niana was fun, he changed songs up really fast and everyone was kickin it - it was also really cheap; only 2500 CFA (like 3 dollars) to get in and then the drinks were cheap too, and ladies get in for free on Thursdays if you get there before 12:30. We didn't, but maybe another time. That's the best club I've been to yet. It seems like every one I go to is better than the others, this maybe has something to do with me getting familiar with the nature of the dance culture here; but really the atmosphere and the tunes at Niana were better than the others.
It's interesting being under parents again, I am hiding Ponge from them since neither Lamine nor Adie are allowed to talk to the opposite sex. I thought it probably best to just hide that what I was up to. So when Ponge calls me he has Inga, one of the students who lives by him and the reason I know him, call first and ask for me in case one of the parents answer the phone. Last night I had to ask permission from the dad to get Lamine and Adie to come out of the house with me to the club, and I had to wait like 3 hours for a response. First I asked them together, then waited like 3 hours then asked the mother again who told me to ask the father who told me to ask the mother who didn't say anything for a long time then finally the father said yes. Whew.
Then Adie was calling her secret boyfriend and he called the telecenter a couple times with secret ring codes but so that the parents wouldnt get suspicious Lamine, who answered the phone called my name and had me fake a conversation with the empty line while his parents could hear what I was saying. So I did so and did a fine job I must say. Then we dropped Adie off at her boyfriend's house and went to the club together and picked her back up on the way home. Only Lamine lost the house key and we had to knock and wake the parents up at like 6:30 in the morning--yee!
At the club I was kickin it with a crew of peeps and sort of challenge dancing. I decided I would like to chill with those peeps some more, but I didn't want to just go get their number. I thought that if it was "meant to be" I would see them again another night at Niani. So later after we left the club my bro and I were chillin at a boutique drinking sodas and waiting to catch a cab and who should walk into the same boutique but the peeps, two of them anyway - one guy Balla who doesnt speak any French at all, so his brother Xaviar who lived in Alabama for awhile was translating his Wolof into English and French for me and we exchanged numbers. I don't know what the hell we would talk about since my Wolof is really basic, but maybe after the four weeks in Momar Sar my Wolof will have improved - I expect to meet a lot more people who don't know any French. So anyway Balla plays djembe so maybe I can switch teachers and have him and we can speak the language of djembe. He offered to teach me every day for like 4 hours. Well that might be a bit much, but you know..laayilay.
So it was wierd being at the club without Ponge cuz he isn't the type to be down with an open relationship - although I dont totally believe just yet that he doesnt have another girlfriend even though he says he's a "one girl guy." I guess I don't really care either way, if he is telling me that I'm the only one and I'm not it's probably cuz he thinks I wouldn't want to be with him if he was also with other chicas, which isn't true. But I am going to hold up my end of the whole monogamy deal cuz I gave him the impression that I would so I'll honor that until something happens that changes it.
Anyway, so I didn't slow dance with anyone that offered at Niana even though they played my fav RnB song. After a bit my bro asked me to dance and I did, but it was very plutonic. I did have a little waxing-waning crush on him for a bit, but that dance definitly confirmed the plutonic nature of my relationship with him. I really like my sis and bro, it's going to be sad to leave.
Right now I am thinking very heavily that I am not going to want to stay in Momar Sar for longer than the first semester's worth - that is the four weeks. I definitely want to go to experience another way of life, see how city and village life compares; but I don't know about the rest of the year there. I am pretty happy in Dakar, it will be a bit to go through the whole adjustment phase all over again; especially since it will be during Ramadan when I will be fasting. But it's cool, I like to put myself in really hard situations cuz I think it's really good for a person. I can't imagine what I'd be doing right now if I hadn't spent my last year here - probably chillin in Mpls taking some paper learning about what I'm learning through experience and here and still trippin about relationships and shit; maybe getting sad or nostalgic because I always get that way in November.
This Saturday I'm spending the night "at Inga's" which rules. I have a huge crush on Ponge; I love that first part of a relationship where there are no problems yet, it's exciting and you're getting to know a new individual and you're not very attached and you want to touch the other person so much that the slightest contact gives you the greatest thrills. Slow dancing with Ponge was most excellent last weekend for that reason; we weren't at that you can touch me phase yet (although we obviously both want to) but our bodies were pressed close and moving rhythmically..helloooo nurse.
Well this cyber cafe time is almost up, oooh and guess how I got here? That's right I took my new BIKE here yeeeeBIKEBIKEBIKEBIKE fuck. Life is most excellent, alhamdulilaah!
