Oh yeah...did I mention that I won a dance contest?

So I've been meaning to tell you how I won a dance contest at a party when we were in Nigeria, but I didn't have any pictures to accompany the blog and I knew there would be some sweet ones. Luckily Dymisha and Mercy both handed their cameras over to others in our group and now that we've re-grouped I've gotten copies of them.

So the dance-off is part of a larger story I've been meaning to tell, but just haven't gotten around to writing so I'll tell you the short version of it now. We met a woman and her husband at the Benin Airport, she invited us to her son's birthday party the following weekend which for many reasons was a very huge affair, we went, and I won the dance off in front of about 500 people.

So we got there late because of car issues but when we got there we were able to jump in and participate in the last hour of the party. Mercy and Dymisha had gone out to the middle of the lawn to dance (there was a DJ playing music) and I got an itch to dance as I usually do so I convinced Taryn to go with me. Not 30 seconds after we got out there the DJ announced they'd be having a dance contest. We were already out there so we thought "why not?"

Now I have to say...I'm a pretty fierce when it comes to competition. Even if they don't matter I still like to win. The other thing you have to know is that when you already stick out like a sore thumb you can either try and hide (and usually fail miserably) or just suck it up and make a complete fool out of yourself. I usually choose the latter.

So when we started the dance contest I was dancing to win, no matter how ridiculous I looked or how much MORE attention I may receive.

So in the first round we had to dance with a partner against another couple. Taryn and I paired up and kicked butt quite swiftly.

In the next round they made us switch to a new partner from the winners of round one. Dymisha and I quickly paired up because we knew we'd be unstoppable...which we were.

After that we were narrowed down some more in individual dance offs. Sadly Dymisha threw in the towel and lost. I of course did not and the field narrowed to three.


In the last round it was me and another young woman. I dance like a crazy fool but I have some tact. The other lady was a little more...how shall I say "hoochie." The event was hosted by Evangelical Pastors so that was not appreciated.

In the end I prevailed. Now some have said it was rigged since I was the one of only three white people in the 500+ crowd, but I prefer to believe it was because I was AWESOME, but I guess we'll never know.

All I know is that I was the one who walked away with the grand prize grape lip gloss...SO THERE.

The funniest part is that for the next few days we hung around with the Birthday Family and every time we went somewhere with them they'd introduce us and they'd say "Oh I remember her. She won the dance contest at the party. You dance very lovely." Bwhahaha. I'm such a rock star. Only in Nigeria.