countdown to the journée internationale de la femme...

so thursday march 8 is international women's day.
in congo, that's a big deal, because it's kind of established that every other day of the entire year is man's day.
there's also mother's day, but then again, that's only if you have kids, and you have to be nice to your mom too, so it's never a days just for you.
so there's international women's day for all women. and it's is a big deal.
there are banners, there are signs, drunk women on the streets, and most importantly, there is a special fabric with a lady and the date on it. everyone will be wearing this fabrik on thursday.
so the ladies at the cafeteria (a little shack with a gravelly courtyard out front, run entirely by women who make you wait 90 minutes while they prepare rice and chicken) kept asing me if i had my dress planned yet and no, i didn't.
so we got down to business. they closed the door to the shack (only slightly angering the long line of customers ho have been waiting, probably more than an hour for their food) and started measuring me, talking about style, getting soooo excited and then...the price. it seemed to go up as soon as they saw how much cash i had in my purse, but it's ok, it was still only 20 bucks, including purchase of the fabrik (in the place where i got mugged, i'm not going back there), and sewing. all made to order.
so they are planning the typical african thing with the matching skirt and top and headgear and in my experience it's the kind of thing that looks cool when you wear it once in africa but then it's kind of tight and uncomfortable and never comes out of the closet. so, in about 15 seconds, with lots of hand motions i designed a sort of 50s marilyn monroe dress, because that's what came to mind.   
the next day i went to lunch and there it was, exactly what i ordered! though, in some crazy blue and brown and white african swirl because they thought it was nicer than the women's day print. ok. awesome. 
so we closed the door to the shack and amidst the flies and the food i stripped down and tried it on and it fit perfectly. i went out of the shack to see in better light and immediately the men, even guys all the way in the parking lot were whistling, woooooo congo style! she's white on the outside and congo on the inside!