Friday night was the school's ples which is a graduation ball. It is a cross between prom and graduation, sort of. I had such a good time. It is a ball to honor the graduating class. They don't have a graduation ceremony like we do at the end of the school year. It is a formal affair, like prom.....fancy dresses, getting your hair done, etc. It started around 8 and ended at 2:30. The maturants (seniors) did a pre-dance to songs from the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack. It was well choreographed. Then the maturants are presented with sashes and their class rings. After that was the champange toast from the teachers. There was a receiving line and the teachers went through to toast our students. It is a little odd to drink with your students, it's so taboo in the states. The next part was one that I was quite apprehensive about, the student-teacher dance. First of all it was a waltz, which I haven't danced in a very long time. Secondly, I was afraid of which student would ask me to dance. One of the maturants has a huge crush on me and I thought it would be awkward if he asked me to dance. And sure enough, he did. But it was funny. He didn't know how to waltz either. He asked me, "How do we start?" I told him that was a bad sign. So we stumbled through the dance and it was hilarious instead of weird. So I began to relax a little after that. The rest of the night there was dancing and drinking and raffles. It was so weird to be around my students who were drunk and it was completely acceptable. It's part of the culture. I won a nice dinner for two with a bottle of champagne at a hotel in Cheb. My students where asking me if I would take one of them. Right! The official festivities end with the "Midnight Surprise" which usually involves boys in drag. Don't ask me why. The whole class did the can-can. It was pretty amusing. It was nice to see my students and co-workers all dressed up and looking nice. It was really quite the event. I hope y'all had a good weekend, too!