2014: An Australia Day Formal Ball in Africa
So there we were minding our own business when our Vanilla Essence stepped in and grandly informed us that we were invited to the Australian Ball. Having never attended an Australian Ball before, Stef and I were obviously keen 🙂
And so began the rigorous preparations… First on the agenda was a critical part of any ball… The ball gowns. Now if you live in Nairobi you know that these are extremely hard to come by, especially for a lady with ample curves like me.
As we were at lunch lamenting about this lack of variety, in comes Satie the most resourceful man I know in Nairobi. It turns out that his mother does the most fantastic dresses and gowns. We wolfed down our lunch and rushed off to Mrs. Channa’s house to see if she could rescue us from our predicament. She was fantastic! She sent us to Diamond Plaza for the fabric we needed. After which we came back with our ideal gown suggestions.
She had a look at them, and proceeded to measure us and initiate the dress making process. We went for a couple of fittings prior to collecting the dresses on the day of the ball. Then we did our nails, fixed our hair, exfoliated, hydrated, meditated.. all that was expected ahead of the anticipated evening…
Before we knew it, we were strolling down the red carpet on a pleasant Nairobi night… As we walked into the venue, we knew that we did the right thing dressing up. Everyone looked amazing! The first stop after walking in was the photo session at The Outback Inn which was really cool…
After the photo shoot we mingled with other guests….
Later on we sat at our respective tables for dinner…
The MC was entertaining, witty and quite pleasant to listen to. Maia Von Lekow and her band entertained us with her beautiful voice as we enjoyed our dinner…
Once the food and the formalities were done, the dancing commenced. What made this ball fun was the fact that everyone was up for a great time, irrespective of their background, embassy or rank. We learnt a couple of Aussie moves from some new friends. I must admit the best dancer of the evening was the Korean Ambassador.. The man held it down on the floor all night after officially opening the evening’s dance session.
There are a couple of more interesting parties coming up in the next months. I doubt anyone can outshine the Aussies though… We shall wait and see 🙂 On this note ladies and gentlemen, I leave you with some of my favorite moments of the evening…
