This is part of my conscious effort to have a fun post following every serious one. My friend Allie recently forwarded pictures from last November's St. Andrew's Ball of the Caledonian Society of Tanganyika. It was such a fun, wild event! The link has more photos. I had no idea what to expect. My UCSF colleague Molly was my date for the evening, and she and several other women had gowns made... so clearly I couldn't show up in boring work attire and had a kilt made of Masai cloth. My boss,who grew up Scottish dancing in England, was clear that an event of the Caledonian Society would require very specific dress, including white dresses for women and kilts with black formal jackets for men. Well, maybe in England, but not in Dar es Salaam, thankfully (and with some relief).
The event was held at the snappy Kilimanjaro Hotel Kempinski as a benefit for the new children's cancer ward at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar. The band was flown in from Scotland and the lead singer/violinist taught us how to do the dances all evening. The uninitiated like myself were definitely in the majority. She was incredibly patient and good natured as she gave us ribbings about our ability to follow directions, leaving us all laughing much of the evening. In addition, one of the early courses was haggis, also flown in from Edinburgh for the event (coming up with haggis in Dar is apparently too challenging... which is not hard to imagine). I was a bit hesitant about haggis, having never heard the words "haggis" and "delicious" in the same sentence. However, the haggis was really delicious (So there you go! You've now seen it!).
Part of the tone of the evening was the setting of each table of 10, which included several bottles of wine, a bottle of amarula, and a large bottle of Glenfiddich, all of which was gone by the end of the evening, making the dancing ever more interesting. Laughter abounded and somehow we actually managed to collectively figure out the dance maneuvers (much like square dancing, and I occasionally got to twirl my man sketi, as I fondly called my kilt)!
I think the pictures do speak to the fun of the event. Photo 1: Gary, Allie, Allie's mom Sally, Molly
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