Happy Anniversary, Duoc!

After nearly 9 months of hard work, the teachers and staff at my campus finally got to let loose and relax a bit.  The school holds an annual dinner celebrating the anniversary of the university, and this year was the 44th.  Everyone received an invitation by email about a month before the event.  I get so many school-wide emails that don't ever pertain to me, so I ignored it when I first got it.  For the next couple weeks, I was so caught up in school and the pending midterm tests that I all but forgot about it completely.  It was only when one of the staff members asked me if I was going that I remembered.  I wasn't really sure I wanted to--it was scheduled for a Tuesday night, and I have early classes on Wednesday.  But everyone kept talking about how much fun it was and how they always looked forward to it every year, so I was finally convinced.

All of us TIPS (the American teachers) have the same schedule on Tuesdays, so we agreed to meet up after work to get ready together.  I was a little nervous because I am not really a "dress up" type person (see how worked up I got about a wedding dress), but another one of the girls is about the same size as me and offered to let me borrow something if I couldn't come up with anything from my own closet.  I got home from work around 4:30 and started going through my outfits to see if I could find anything appropriate.  Luckily, Aunt Jenn had taken me on a shopping spree before I left Florida last year and had helped me pick out some good dresses.  Since I never have occasion to wear them, I'd nearly forgotten I'd brought them at all!  But I pulled out a knee-length black and white dress with a diamond pattern that seemed perfect for an anniversary dinner.  The only problem was that I'd lost the only pair of black shoes that actually fit me when I moved to the center of town.  The ones I had were way too big, but it was too late to do anything about it then, so I just stuffed them with toilet paper and headed out.

I was the first to arrive at my coworker's house, and when she opened the door we both had a good laugh because her dress was very similar to mine.  Guess we both have good taste!  As we waited for the rest of the girls to arrive, we talked about how school was going (and both agreed we were definitely looking forward to the end of the semester).  I mentioned that my shoes were not the most comfortable, and she ran to her closet and pulled out a pair of black flats that went great with my dress and fit perfectly.  I almost felt like Cinderella!  With the shoe dilemma solved, we turned our focus to the important stuff--wine and french fries.  Chileans are notorious for beginning events much later than scheduled, so we weren't sure what time we'd actually be eating.

The rest of the girls showed up just as the fries finished cooking.  We broke open the wine and had our snack while we made some last minute preparations.  One of the girls had seen a video online about how to create a new hairdo (called "the spring flower" or something along those lines).  The presenter in the video made it seem like it was a snap and so easy the cat could do it.  It turned out that may have been a slight exaggeration, because in real life she'd had very limited success attempting to put her hair up in that style by herself.  So we put in a group effort and managed to complete the hairstyle.  It took three of us 20 minutes to finish a hairdo on another person that had been done by the woman in the video to herself in only five.  So, we considered it a success!  We all finished up with the minor adjustments to our outfits, and got ready to head out.

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The dinner was scheduled to start at 8:00, so we left the apartment around 8:30 so as not to arrive too early.  We were surprised when we arrived to see that there were already quite a few people at the hotel, socializing and snacking on hors d'oeuvres.  People were just kind of muddling around, so we did too.  It was very elegant; there were waiters walking around carrying trays of all kinds of foods (even little bowls of soup--that was one braver waiter!).  Of course, we had to try as many as possible!  And what would a party be without alcohol?  There were many options to choose from, but I went for the Chilean drink of choice--pisco sour.  We made the rounds and said "hello" to the other teachers in our department, as well as some that we'd chatted with in the teachers' lounge.  It was a little strange at first to see all the teachers dressed up for a party instead of for a professional setting, but it was also really nice to see everyone more relaxed and with their guard down a bit.

A little after 9:00, there was an announcement calling everyone into the dining room.  The dining room actually happened to be a giant tent (almost circus-style) into which dozens of tables had been set to face a large stage and screen.  The lights were dimmed and the room was illuminated by candles and colored light accents around the periphery.  We headed to the table in the back corner with our department head and some other English teachers.  They told us they hoped we'd eaten a lot of snacks, because it typically took a long time to distribute the food to all the tables.  Luckily, we'd been allowed to bring in our drinks (and were still full of french fries), so we weren't too concerned.  But they must've switched up the service order this year, because no sooner had we been seated than a line of waiters appeared through the door and headed directly to our table!  We were the first group to be served!  The teachers who'd experienced the anniversary dinners before couldn't believe our good fortune.

The first course was smoked salmon with a side of a green salad and couscous topped with huevos de pescado (the Chilean version of caviar).  We were also given our choice of red or white wine, or fresh juice.  Some people went for all three!  I'm not notorious for my drinking abilities, and I'd already had a glass of wine and a pisco sour, so I opted for some raspberry juice.  It was delicious, and very refreshing with our meal.  By the time I finished my plate, I was feeling quite satisfied.  What I hadn't realized was that that was only the first course!  The waiters came around swiftly to collect our plates and make room for the next course.

Again, our table was the first to be served.  This time, we received grilled chicken and steak on a bed of rice.  The dish had a very beautiful garnish, but I'm not quite sure what it was.  It looked like clovers to me (yes, I am quite sophisticated).  I was starting to feel the effects of all my hors d'oeuvre-sampling and the first course, so I only managed to eat about half of the second course before I felt as if I could no longer move.  I made a valiant effort to eat as much as I could, but my stomach can only stretch so far!  Of course the others made fun of me, but in the end it worked out for them because they got to finish off what I couldn't!

Of course, the most important part of any meal is dessert, and we weren't about to miss out on that!  Luckily, this time the waiters gave us a little more time between courses so our stomachs could settle a bit before attempting another workout.  While we waited for dessert, the campus director made his way onto the stage and began to announce winners for various awards, such as a staff member of the year.  One of my students also works at the school, and I was very proud to see that he was runner-up for "most invaluable asset" in his department!  We'd heard from TIPS at other campuses that they also had an award for best exchange teacher, so we were excited to see who would get that.  Unfortunately, our campus apparently doesn't give that award.  We were only momentarily disappointed, however, because as the awards wrapped up, out came dessert!  It was a big plate with three different delicacies--strawberries and cream, peach custard with a chocolate shell, and raspberry ice cream in an edible mini dish.  They were all super delicious!

While we enjoyed our desserts, we were entertained by one of the design teachers doing a live sand art show.  He was dressed up as an Arabian prince, and created a story simply by drawing in sand that was spread out on a table.  It was really cool to watch, especially because it was totally synchronized with the music.  He drew the story of Duoc, showing students in the classroom and all sorts of other activities that go on at the university.  The whole show probably lasted 15 minutes, during which he drew continuously.  It was really impressive!  The grand final was when he drew the Duoc logo and wrote "Happy Anniversary" in the sand for posterity.  Or at least until the cleaning crew arrived.

After the art show, we were treated to a talent contest.  Unfortunately, none of us (American teachers) had heard about it beforehand. We were a little disappointed because we could think of a few good ideas that just might have brought us the prize.  Too bad we won't be around next year.  But we did enjoy watching the normally very primp and proper teachers strut their stuff on the stage in all sorts of outrageous costumes!  My favorite was a group who did a medley of different dances, mostly to songs I didn't know, but ended with their own rendition of "Gangnam Style."  Even though I didn't really know most of the participants, it was still really entertaining to watch!  After the talent contest, there was one final act.  A singer came on stage, pretending to be Spanish with a very exaggerated accent.  Apparently he was imitating a very popular artist from about 50 years ago.  Of course, that's way before my time (and place), so I had really no idea what was going on.  All of the other women were swooning, though, so it must have been kind of a big deal.  Our department head told us that everyone loved that singer because he was all of their mothers' favorite.  It was funny to watch how they reacted when he would come up and sing personally to some of them!  I wish I remembered his name so I could look him up and show a video.  I'll ask around.

After the serenade, once it was assured that no one had fainted from heart-throb exposure, it was time to get the party started for real!  Everyone was ushered back into the reception room for dancing and more free drinks.  Unfortunately, by this time it was past 1:00 a.m. and the effects of the alcohol were starting to get to me--I was tired!  The other American teachers also had to teach early classes, so we all agreed to go home together.  We said our good-byes and went on our way.  I still had a few things to get ready for class the next day, but by the time I made it home, I was lucky to get my pajamas on before getting into bed for the night!  Luckily for me, no one noticed how tired I was the next day because I'm pretty sure they were all even more tired!