Unity Ball

The Unity Ball is THE annual event involving many of the Christian churches of Dunedin. This year's theme was "Urban Glam," a sort of Usher-meets-bling-bling idea. Remember, I had left myself exactly 2 hours to eat, shower, find something to wear and be ready to leave for the ball at 7pm. Remember, also, that I had been losing sleep for the past 3 nights...Claire first offered her amazing vintage sequined rainbow dress for me to adorn. I tried to put it on, I really did, but it was just too small. I walked out of the bathroom and announced, "Not only does it NOT fit, but I'm stuck!" Claire and Angela came to look. In that moment of extreme exhaustion, I was seized by panic along with irrational thinking: I was never going to get out of the dress. It took a lot to keep from bursting into tears. A few teardrops found their way onto my face, but they were aided by my laughing as I Claire and Ang eased me out of the dress. Such is the life of women and the attempts at getting fancied-up.I then opted for the less glamorous, but oh-so-comfy combo of black skirt and shirt. A little pearl and silver bling, heaps of black eyeliner, red lipstick, and I was ready to go. The museum had been transformed into a post-Grammy Award party! The red carpet guided your way to the staircase while a spotlight back-lit your ascent. The party took place on two stories, but the museum has a very open design - each floor can see down to the next, like giant indoor balconies. A DJ was set up on the second floor and food was plentiful. Guests wore everything from evening gowns and tuxedos to spiked hair, leather and chains. I spent the majority of the evening dancing Ceroc with Patrick, who is both a fantastic dancer and dance instructor. This being my second attempt at Ceroc, I found that I'd improved. I'm definitely going to find people that know this style of dancing in Boise, it's brilliant! To introduce another swift thing about being here, I met a classmate of Patrick's, Sione (*see-OH-nay*), from Tonga. He also goes to DCBC. I have met so many people from around the world since I've been here. Singapore, Japan, China, Cambodia, Germany, France, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Chile, Guatemala, Holland, South Africa, Zimbabwe...I could go on. It's been wonderful getting to know people of all different tribes and nations. Lana, Patrick and I left the Ball at around 12:30am or so. Many people were still dancing and eating. My feet hurt so bad from dancing barefoot that I didn't think I'd be able to walk to the car. I washed my tootsies before bed, they were quite tender but a hottie at the foot of my bed helped soothe them. I slept well that night, and well into the next morning :o)