party like a rockstar...or at least local style

Annikah and I attended another birthday party last night. We got the invite about 1 hour before the party began and quickly put a gift together (thank goodness I still keep a lil' closet full of goodies just in case....the teacher in me pays off again!). The friend who invited us stopped by after she finished school (she is one of only 3 women in a class of over 20 learning to drive- she rocks!) and we all headed to her place since she needed to change clothes before the party. We waited while she ran around to other people's houses apparently looking for a scarf to borrow and then we hoped a dala dala to the party. After walking through crazy winding streets (I was thinking how will I ever find my way home? I am the girl who gets lost in Chicago where the streets are on a grid! Getting lost is sort of my spiritual gift if you will :) we heard blaring loud music and knew we had arrived. We took off our shoes and headed inside to a front room cleared of everything but some mats on the floor. All the kids were dancing to CRAZY loud music. I seriously could not believe any of us had hearing capabilities after the party. The birthday girl was turning 4 and was decked out in super glitzy jeans, jewelry, and even hot pink sparkle eye shadow! All the women were dressed less conservative then they usually are but when the call to prayer came over the loud speakers the music stopped and many covered their heads. After a few minutes the deafening music was started up again and everyone continued to bust a move. Annikah was a bit shy at first but eventually started workin' it out with the other kids. My favorite part was when the Bibi (Grandma) started dancing with everyone (see video). After about 2 hours of dancing the birthday girl and her Mama brought out the cake. They lit candles and she blew them out followed by EVERY single person at the party coming up to feed her a bite of cake. Each family group came to take a picture with her and then scooped up a piece of quickly melting cake and icing to feed her a bite. When it was Miss A's turn she took the fork full of cake and swiftly stuffed it in her own mouth! That is my kid! She had been complaining that she was hungry for over an hour and it was 7pm by this time so I can't say I blame her. This caused quite an uproar of laughter. Since I was told to stand next to her for photo purposes I did not get it on film but did get capture the frosted face after glow. Since our camera in definitely dying a slow death I could not take any pictures (pole sana for me) but did capture some video. After taking the dala dala and walking home in the dark through nasty mud we were exhausted but again we are grateful we have friends that allow us to be a part of their celebrations. This morning Annikah's first request was "Mama, me go to 'nother party." She definitely appreciates a good par-tay!