It's December 9th already?!!!!!
Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
I attended what may be my last St. Andrews Night Ball last weekend. I wasn't expecting to go but got a ticket from my parents as a birthday gift. They're afraid that once I move back to the USA I will forget or bury my Scottish heritage deep underground! My mom believed that flinging me around the dance floor a few hundred times (as Scottish mothers tend to do - no joke) would knock as much Scottishness into me as possible before I leave.
As usual the ball took place in the gardens of the Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat where the band Skippinish entertained us for most of the night. The theme was 40 years of Scottish music (due to the 40th National Day Oman is celebrating this year) and we were all led to sit at tables named after Scottish musicians. Our table was named Amy McDonald. I would have preferred to sit at Snow Patrol or Glasvegas' table, but Amy treated us well.
We were all gifted with a box of Amouage perfume (we were short a few boxes, but luckily I'm allergic so didn't touch the stuff) and a photograph, which we took as a group. I'm starting to wonder if the guys at our table are really undercover here and actually work for WikiLeaks or something cause they're faces were all completely obliterated by shadows in the photo. We had asked the photographer if the photo turned out good to which she smiled and nodded and shrugged her shoulders simultaneously. You would think that seeing as we have all lived in the Middle East for a considerable number of years we would have learned not to ask yes/no questions! Nevermind, us ladies looked gorgeous!
The speeches were thankfully short as St. Andrews Night is all about the dancing (if you want speeches you go to a Burns Supper). Then we were onto the meal. The less said about that the better. Our table has been going to these balls for 10 years now and they said the food has never been as bad as it was last weekend. However, credit where credits due, the starter, soup and desert were great. But the main meal was soooo awful that it made the whole meal a disappointment.
On that note, we got up and dancing as quick as we could. The band consisted of a drummer and 3 bagpipers, which is quite a lot of pipers to hear play all at once(thank goodness we were outdoors!). They played pretty much the same dances throughout the night and broke those up with waltzes, which was a godsend for the lungs! Let's put it this way - I still have bruises under my arms from a strip the willow I had danced with my mom, and I had already done yoga that day! I was pretty much dead by the end of the night.
Everyone was dolled up to the nines in their ball-gowns, kilts and suits as usual. The dance floor was rather hazardous to those wearing heels or slidey dance shoes due to the humidity, which left pools of water on the dance floor. A couple of people actually fell. But they were hopefully drunk and relaxed enough that no major damage was done (this is a Scottish event!).
Later in the evening, we got to hear the beautiful accent of a guy from KwaZulu-Natal auction off a car to raise money for a hospital in Scotland that takes care of sick soldiers. As a child of Africa that always brings me comfort! We also won a CD player in the raffle draw, so all in all it was a great evening.
As much as I sometimes find it hard to identify with my Scottish roots, being the TCK that I am. I do have to say one thing - the Scottish know how to throw a great dance party that benefits charity! (And you thought the Scottish were mean!!!)
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