Weddings and Gamou

It's just past midnight. About a half hour ago, several of my siblings and I got back from Gamou, the religious pilgrimage to Tivaouane. During this event, approximately 1 million people converge on a city that normally houses 70,000 souls. The result is sheer pandemonium. Trying to visit family after family, we were often caught in mobs and simply could not go from one part of town to the other. Things got frustrating when people starting pushing their way through the most, causing others to fall down, and fights to break out. Consequently, my toes got stepped on enough times that I started retaliating with my bony elbows, thrusting them out at those who dared stomp my feet. I also had numerous people try to pickpocket me, but was lucky enough to fend them off. Otherwise, it was fairly enjoyable event, with lots of food, soda, and of course, "attaya" (green tea with obscene amounts of sugar) included. The famous "Teranga" (hospitality) that Senegal is known for really showed itself today, as anyone could walk into any compound and eat, drink, and converse to their hearts content. Food was plentiful, and it was obvious that these families spent a lot of money and time getting these meals together. As tiring as it was, it was a good bonding experience with the family and I'll probably go next year as well (only with actual shoes and not sandals next time...)

Tivaouane during Gamou
(This was the quietest street in the entire city...)

My host brothers and I before attending the first wedding

Yesterday was also a big day in my community as 2 families from my "quartier" (neighborhood) had weddings. Both of these weddings had some very strange and distressing aspects to them. The first wedding involved 2 cousins. Complete, outright first cousins. Besides that, the girl was around 17 and in the 11th grade, while the husband is a college graduate and a school teacher... Looking past these issues, it was a very jovial event with once again, lots of food and drinks. I got many compliments on my stylish attire (see above picture), with most people claiming "You! You are a REAL American!" (As opposed to the phony Americans roaming the streets of Senegal...). The second wedding I found to be even more awkward, as the husband to be wasn't even on the same continent! Rumor has it, he is a taxi driver in Spain. Essentially, over the phone he agreed on a date for the wedding, and thus it occured yesterday...without him there. So here was this young bride, standing all by herself, having her picture taken over and over. I found this bewildering to say the least, and even stranger was the fact that my host family considered it weird that in American weddings, both parties HAVE to be there...
Well, I'm off to bed for now. I'll be around over the next few weeks so I'll make some updates sooner than later. Ba ci kanaam!

In gold with ludicrous amounts of makeup is the bride to be.








Also, last week during a bike ride, I decided to try to get some footage of the scenery here. Thus, I climbed a tree and took a video, so here it is. Turn the sound down if you're not interested in hearing roaring wind. Enjoy!