Tad's Life

We had a bit of an adventure Saturday night. Knowing that it was our last day of vacation (since a guest was to come Sunday and a team on Monday), we decided to go out to eat. Jane was trying to get a jump on the meal she is hosting with the team tonight, so she was cooking until sundown. But that was fine. We eat late normally anyway. So we got in the car and headed south to go to Caesars, an Italian-style fast-food place that has chicken, too ("Kentucky," they call it). But when we reached the outskirts of Ouakam just above the beach mosque, we ran into a long-line of traffic. Immediately I knew what was happening. The Ouakam soccer team (Union Sportive de Ouakam) was in the championship match and it must have ended. The village would be celebrating if they had won.

I considered turning around. Oh, if only I had. I figured traffic away from Ouakam would run smoothly. Boy, was I wrong! A long time later and only 3oo yards farther down the road, I finally gave up and turned around. The whole village (70,000 people) must have been out in the streets celebrating! There was our friend Ami Dione dancing along the main road. “USO! USO!” She saw us and came over to the car, very excited. And there was Balla’s brother-in-law, the bus driver, directing traffic at the crossroads. Everyone was beaming with pride and joy. We heard the next day that Antoinette’s 12-year-old, Christophe, escaped the house after the match ended and didn’t show up until midnight. He so wanted to touch the Cup. His cousins reported seeing him riding around in the truck with the team and the Cup, shouting and waving and celebrating the victory.

The match was held a couple miles away at a main stadium. As we sat stuck in traffic, car after car after van after bus, all loaded with fans, kept pouring back into Ouakam. And then the foot traffic arrived. It was like being in the parking lot after college football game, people painted in red and white, or wearing funny hats, or just in red and white clothes. And everyone shouting and blowing whistles. Crazy. And even a bit intimidating. In spite of the heat, we kept the windows rolled up most of the way.