Day 18: Party

On Saturday, the staff threw a party for Claudia and me.

We had it at Justine’s house, which has a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Most Americans would say it’s small, but I’m from New York so it seemed fine to me. The kitchen was painted bright green; and the bedroom, hot pink. Covering the walls were soccer-team posters, magazine cut-outs of soccer players, and pictures of friends. She didn’t have a corkscrew, but she did have a big TV and a nice sound system.

As soon as we walked in, Justine put on dance music and suddenly all the women were dancing around the table. They didn’t need to rest from work or even drink alcohol; they just started dancing. Justine dropped to the floor and scooted in time to the music; and Lauren did her special “vibrating” move, which I have to get on video. Getrud explained the lyrics of one of their favorite songs: “It’s summertime. Let’s party; let’s dance.”

Claudia and I wanted to hear some Michael Jackson. But as soon as Justine put on “Beat It,” the younger girls sat down. They also sat through “Billie Jean” and even “Thriller.” I think they don't consider it dance music. As soon as it was over and the “real” music came back on, everyone started dancing again.

The women who drank had Savannah beer, poured in mimosa glasses. Getrud's boyfriend, Christian, brought a box of rose' wine for Claudia, me, and the guys. He also like dancing with the wine box, putting it on his shoulder and gesturing to it in time to the music.

Christian was our party planner and wanted everything to go well. Throughout the night, whenever he thought I should be doing something, he’d say, “This is Africa!” In this way, he guilted me into dancing to world music, eating chicken, and using a wine glass that wasn’t mine.

The next day, Getrud was still excited about the party and couldn’t wait for me to post the pictures on her Facebook account. I asked how often they have parties like that, and she said this was the first one all year. “Why don’t you have more?” I asked. “Well…” she said, “we do see each other every day.”

Pictures: (1) Dancing ladies, (2) Justine and Claudia, (3) Foxy sitting out during Michael Jackson songs, (4) Christian, (5) Getrud and Jenelle