At the Ball!!

What a day!!  Friday we started out by sleeping a bit later than normal, since the teachers only had to be at school 8:00-noon.  We got a little work done before walking to the House of Culture for our rehearsal - this time with mics.  We ended up being there almost 2 hours, but in the end it sounded fine.  

Nikola on keyboard, Miloš on guitar, (both students) and Peter (teacher) on drums.
 Also Betka on cello!  (We also had a student playing bass who came later during rehearsal.) 

While we were waiting for the tech set-up, I learned to fold these napkins.  Gotta admit, my first one was a dismal failure and was rejected!!  LOL!!  

The hall being prepared in the morning --- it was just beautiful!!  Like a fancy wedding reception!

After rehearsal, we headed back to school for a little more work time before going over to the elementary for lunch.  (Delicious, as always, I might add!!)  Finally, we got a lot more work done for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and we felt prepared for the upcoming week with lesson plans and sub plans.  :-)  

Then we had another "first" in our educational careers.....we got locked INSIDE the school and couldn't get out!!  Nope, no crash bars on the doors here, just locks, and bars on the ground floor windows as well!!  Here's the story....  
We were contentedly working away, alone in the workroom, when another teacher popped her head in and teasingly told us we should go home, it was late, and everyone else had left already.  :-)  Well, after about 5 minutes, she came back in and said there was a problem.....the school was officially closed for the day, the doors had been locked, there were only four teachers still in the building, and we were all locked in.  We of course thought she was kidding, but no, it was all true!  They finally called a deputy headmistress who came over with the key and let us out.  But we couldn't stay to do any more work - we had to leave immediately!!  LOL!!    :-)  

Of course the school Charity Ball was that night, so most everyone had gone home earlier to go to hairdressers and manicurists, and get "gussied up" for the big evening.   :-)   We went home and relaxed a little before getting picked up by Katarina's Dad, our excellent "coach" driver!  It was quite an event.  There was a huge coat check area being run by some of our students, all dressed in finery.  Then we were greeted by uniformed wait staff with trays of champagne flutes, so we could toast with and be welcomed individually by the Headmistress, Janka, and her husband, Roman, as well as the main organizer of the Ball.   

Our gorgeous colleagues/translators/dear friends, Pat'ka and Katarina, with our welcome-to-the-ball flutes of champagne.  (And the servers behind us also collected the glasses onto their trays before we went inside.)

The first thing on the program was our song with the kids....Chris Tomlin's "God of This City"

Too bad there weren't risers --- you can't see the second row of singers behind!!  

Our M.C.'s for the program were super - one is Erik, our colleague/friend who we see every Friday night at VB and BB, and the other is a former student.  

The students also performed another song, with dancers down on the floor in front of the stage.  

This dance looked really fun!!  

The kids changed out of their nice dresses and into costumes for the second part of the program.  

There were even flags in the choreography.  It was an amazing spectacle!!  :-)  

After the student performances, there were welcoming speeches by the Chaplains and the Headmistress, followed by a group toast.  And then it was kind of like a ceremonial first dance with the school dignitaries starting off, then everyone else joining them on the dance floor.  Evidently it's customary to begin with a waltz, and I'm not kidding, the tables were all empty because EVERYONE was out doing the waltz!!  It was so cool.  And it was the longest medley of waltzes I've ever heard - it went on forever - like 8 minutes we think!  Such fun!!  Someone told us after the dance that they were surprised -- they didn't think Americans knew how to waltz.  :-)  (Note:  during the course of the evening's dancing, the music varied dramatically - everything imaginable.  Swing, rock, hip-hop, rap, techno, traditional, slow American oldies, - anything for dancing!!)  

There were buffet lines for the hot food, prepared and served by the culinary school in town.  (Also featured in this pic is Katarina's elegant up-do!!)   :-)

There were also huge tables of salads, cold meats and cheeses, vegetables, and fancy finger-food type sandwiches, sliced roll-ups, etc.  

And another table was set up with fresh fruits, fancy layered cakes and desserts, and a giant bowl of melted chocolate for dipping fruit into.  

Tim with some of our wonderful V students (seniors).  

There was a string quartet dressed in costume and playing traditional Slovak music in the buffet area, and people often joined in singing enthusiastically!  

For my musician friends --- notice the technique of the violist in the back.  I asked a student who also plays violin about it, and she says that traditional Slovak string players played in this style!  

With the "guys in ties" - Tim and Erik!  (Of course, at this event, ALL the men were wearing ties!!)  Erik was our awesome M.C.

With our beautiful Headmistress, Janka!

At 11:30, there was a fashion show up on the stage, with ball gowns and other evening dresses created by a designer/dressmaker in town.  The theme was Venice during Carnival, and it kind of made us think of Mardi Gras.  Then at midnight was the big raffle drawing.  We had all purchased raffle tickets earlier (the event, was after all, a benefit for the school!)  There were lots of really nice prizes.  Our numbers weren't drawn, but the toaster in our flat was won by Carol last year, so we are enjoying a ball raffle prize one way or the other.  LOL!!  

There was a LOT of dancing by young and old alike.  A group of our students pulled us out onto the dance floor again after we had been sitting down for a little while.  :-)

 Katarina's parents came back to take us home again about 2:30, so we were there about 7 1/2 hours!!  Wow!!  It was really a fun evening at the Ball!!    :-)