Christmas Parties all around

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Blogger Dougo

Well it finally arrived. Christmas break, end of second term, the winter holidays. It is always a busy time of the year for anyone, but for international teachers this is particularly busy. It is a weird mix of total exhaustion having got through the first five months of a new school, report writing and getting to know everyone, and elation at knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. Social commitments aplenty is the theme in the weeks leading up to any holiday break. Everyone is going somewhere (more often than not) and you are asked so many times that you sometimes feel as if they are having you on. ISD has such an abundance of differing nationalities heading home for Christmas. Cananda, US, England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Belgium, the list goes on. Those who are forgoing a return to family are heading to Thailand, Cambodia, South Africa... you get the idea.

We have just finished the first five months of our 24 month contract. Not that we are counting, but it puts it into perspective somewhat. We are here for stretch, but that stretch has a set time frame. The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. The PTA decided it would be good idea to have their fair on the allocated staff Christmas party date on the last Friday of school. And so it was, the night of the day reports were due, the staff went to a rooftop Christmas party. 'Glitter' was the theme. Due to the ludicrous timing of the event, half the staff didn't come coz they were in no mood for partying, the rest didn't go to any great effort to get glittery. We were all home in bed by 11pm.

The party scene in Dhaka has taken a lot of getting used to. Those who party are the young and very wealthy. They don’t have to work because they are very wealthy. Thus, any night of the week they will party all night long. As it is a dry country (no alcohol), the only places people can drink are in others’ homes. This is where it gets funny. The scene is so organised and close knit that everyone will arrange to go to one place for a certain time, then move on to somewhere else. This will continue all night as entire parties of people will jump from one place to another.

We had our first taste of this way of thinking when we had to deal with two parties in the one night. One of which was our school director's. His theme (they are popular here) was B-Grade celebrity. I dredged up an Italian Soccer player's uniform from my costume kit and Bec decided on going as an unknown actress who once played Cinderella's fairy Godmother. Our second party split happened when we had to divide our time between a birthday and a Christmas party. Both were hosted by friends. Both were in the same apartment building. Both invited the same people. I was trying to shrug off a case of end-of-term-itis, a head cold, so it made my decision easy - one party had babies.
The next night we had another Christmas dinner, this time with all the new staff that we had started at ISD with five months ago. The original theme for the party was Black Tie, but it somehow morphed into Bollywood Black Tie which meant traditional dress with lots of bling. Bec and some of the other girls had a fantastic time going to a makeup and sari dressing salon.

Next day, we had a Christmas dinner with a group of friends who all live in the same apartment block in Road 5 (all roads are called by numbers not names), Baridhara. We call them, Road 5. So we had a lovely dinner with Road 5 and yet another Secret Santa.
And so it was that we cruised into the last week of school before the break.This is first time we have had to get through the first semester after arriving at a school. At EtonHouse, we started in January meaning we only had six months before the longer Summer break. Whether it was the school, Bangladesh or the fact that we started totally anew, but I really struggled into these holidays. But when I look around at all my peers, they seem just as exhausted as me. Maybe it’s just Dhaka.
Bring on the holidays!

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Photos

B Grade ladies
Our school director's Christmas party, B-Grade celebrities.

Glitter...ish
Our attempt at glittery was to get a tube of glitter makeup and put a dot between our eyes. It came off after a while.

Bollywood Style
From right: Molly (USA), Hilary (Canada), Chloe (South Africa), Bec

Black tie Bollywood
My magnificent Punjabi and Bec in her brand new sari. The Punjabi was a gift from one of my students. A sari is a 6 metre long piece of fabric wound around and around the lady's body.