Remember your first middle school dance where the boys all stood on one side of the gymnasium and the girls stood on the opposite side, both groups too afraid to make the first move? Well, that’s basically how adolescent social functions operate in Senegal. All week in Tassette, everyone was talking about the end of the year party at the CM2 (middle school / high school). Girls spent hours putting braids in their hair and guys scrubbed their shoes as clean as humanly possible. It was all the hype in the village. Naturally, Ann Marie, Justin, and I had to make our appearance at a social function with so much buildup.
We made a fashionably late entrance at the school’s “courtyard” (dirt field). After greeting all the teachers, we made our way over to the students. Everyone was looking smart. The girls wore their special complètes and the guys wore their pants lower than usual with the nicest shirt they owned. And what was everyone doing? Sitting. Girls on one side and boys on the other. A few of the “talented” guys monopolized the microphone with their mad lip-syncing skills and pseudo ability to rap. For once, I actually felt like the most popular kid at school. Apparently, associating with toubabs makes you slightly cooler or more exotic in the Senegalese adolescent world. So, not only did we steal the lime light when we entered the “party”, but suddenly everyone knew our names and wanted us to sit with them. We got a nice cushy spot in plain sight of the “entertainment”. And it was very entertaining… for us. Who would have thought that bad rapping in Wolof about ceeb u gen (the popular Senegalese rice and fish dish) and even worse lip-syncing would be so entertaining?
We made a fashionably late entrance at the school’s “courtyard” (dirt field). After greeting all the teachers, we made our way over to the students. Everyone was looking smart. The girls wore their special complètes and the guys wore their pants lower than usual with the nicest shirt they owned. And what was everyone doing? Sitting. Girls on one side and boys on the other. A few of the “talented” guys monopolized the microphone with their mad lip-syncing skills and pseudo ability to rap. For once, I actually felt like the most popular kid at school. Apparently, associating with toubabs makes you slightly cooler or more exotic in the Senegalese adolescent world. So, not only did we steal the lime light when we entered the “party”, but suddenly everyone knew our names and wanted us to sit with them. We got a nice cushy spot in plain sight of the “entertainment”. And it was very entertaining… for us. Who would have thought that bad rapping in Wolof about ceeb u gen (the popular Senegalese rice and fish dish) and even worse lip-syncing would be so entertaining?
The ladies looking their finest
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