Friday Night Lights

Ok, Sara. You've let your quasi-mastery of the Portuguese language get the better of you-AGAIN. On Wednesday, when Nancy invited you to a concert by a guy named Nelson Something-er-other (which you presumably thought would be a relaxing evening of listening to Brazilian grooves), she was actually inviting you to a DISCOTECH-and you said yes. Oh, heavens. "What have I gotten myself into?," I kept asking myself as I walked to Nancy's to catch our cab. Give me torrential rain for a week, give me a rat invasion in my room, give me an 3 week ear infection, but a DISCOTECH? Being proposed to everyday on the way home is easily avoidable as I can just walk away. But willingly venturing to a location in which I'll be forced to dance with strange people with no escape route? THAT, my friends, is the true challenge. Although it would be getting in the way of the old lady plans I had to knit Irene a scarf while watching a movie and retiring early, I knew how badly Nancy wanted to go. And so I walked across the way to her house, and it all felt like dejá-vù. Entering her kitchen, I met her mother baking a cake. Further down the hall, I met her father in typical dad-short shorts watching a primetime telenovela. And walking into her room, I saw Nancy still getting dressed and looking for the perfect set of dangly earrings. I couldnt help but think that this all reminded me of something...and then finally, when riding in the back of her dad's car, I realized that I was in middle school all over again ready to go to the Friday night dance. At 13, the prospect of dancing to horrid pop music for 3 hours sounded like a barrell of fun. At 23, riding in the back of her dad's car, the prospect of dancing to horrid pop music for 3 hours sounded worse than working a full day in the hot Pemba sun. And so my anxiety peaked as we drove past the lights of the bay and I calculated how many beers I could drink with still enough money to catch a cab. It is now 13:46 the next day, and if you're wondering how my first African discotech experience went, well, the Peace Corps is about trying everything once, right?