How little it takes

I remember a friend saying before I left for Senegal, "You will start to miss things about America. Even you, Michelle, will miss America." I scoffed at it then and even now I'm skeptical, but I will concede that there are certain luxuries I miss, and this weekend brought that into perspective. First, with the trip to quaint Goree. And then later, that evening, we ate at an Italian restaurant Chez Mimi's where we were somewhat delighted and perplexed not to find Senegalese food on the menu. I felt a bit guilty about caving in and having pizza after only two weeks here (and paying $8 for it, especially when you can get a good meal out for $2 here). And then getting wound up by the enticing espresso on the menu only to order one and find it's our formidable Nescafe.

Oh but it doesn't end there. We taxied ourselves over to a club called Chez Iba where we danced to Orchestra Baobab, Senegalese music with a salsa/world flair. My experience with the night scene in Dakar is still limited, but I can tell you that the way us toubabs (white people/foreigners) tore up the dance floor is probably pretty uncommon. We found out once we got there Orchestra Baobab is mainly popular with an older crowd and though they definitely had their groove on, they were much more subdued than our group of 15 jivving in the center floor, doubly affected by a low alcohol tolerance (lack of and malaria meds side effect?) and a need to seriously let loose.