Tap That

Sleep crept over me last night in the quasi quiet of a blackout, I wish that the morning was as peaceful. Starting at approximate 6:44am incessant drumming emanated from a nearby compound. As I silently (or not so silently) swore to myself in my room, wishing for the constant drumming to stop or for me to no longer be bothered by the drumming I heard my mom up and around the courtyard. This is highly unusual. I usually don't see her until lunch or right before lunch which is around 2pm. I commented on the drumming and she rolled her eyes and said something to the affect of "Yes, congratulations, she's a virgin!" I almost had a heart attack and the obvious question just spilled out of my mouth. Apparently the reason why there was loud music all day yesterday was that there was a wedding down the street. Last night, the wedding night, the bride was found to be a virgin. And to celebrate this fact, the family, as tradition dictates, starting beating drums the morning after the marriage was consummated and the bride was found to be a virgin. While this provided me with a hilarious interaction with my mom, I do wish they would have discovered the bride's sexual status at a slightly later hour.

The morning really went downhill from there. I went to Keur Yaay only to discover that the school that the English class girls attend is still on vacation aka the students are striking so they don't have to go to school. So, instead of helping out with the English class I had an incredibly awkward conversation with the owner, Boya, about how she wants all of my friends and family in the States to start sending stuff for the children who come to Keur Yaay. It was really disappointing being asked point blank for goods and money. It was really disappointing to be asked for things like that after I thought I was forming friendships.

The afternoon didn't really make matters any better. I've been spending a significant amount of time at the Thies Art Museum because of Dioss and when the curator called me this morning to see if I could meet with him this afternoon to discuss work opportunities at the museum I was pumped. After I waited an hour for him to arrive to our meeting, I was enraged to discover that I was there under false pretenses and that he wanted me to type up a Visa application for him. And this isn't the credit card Visa, which I would have only been too happy to discuss, this was a Visa to the US. After he had me look at a specific portion of the application without reading the instructions and then berated me and the US for not being clear and concise like the Senegalese?, Tamar miraculously called and I pretended it was urgent and I had to leave.

Fortunately, I was going to meet Emily to catch up and a Gazelle has never tasted so good. Right now, I'm taking it one minute at a time and waiting for dinner, which is chicken, to be served and from there I will be hoping that tomorrow is a better day full of people getting married who aren't virgins.