Glitter Party

This is something I have needed to write about for a bit, it happened a couple weeks ago. This party is held every year by the Australian Club, and is a giant gathering of costumed ex-patriots. My group, which was made up of teachers, went as "under the sea," which is not a very funny theme considering the options. However, we went all out on the costumes, and produced big papier machet hats of different sea creatures and all (or mostly) wore green and blue tailor made outfits.
My outfit was meant to look kind of like a 70s Vegas Elvis, but its first manifestation was completely bizarre. Instead of the jump suit with cape attached look, I had a enormous cape with dracula indents on the bottom, a massive stiff collar, and a jump suit that was baggy enough to fit two Beckleys. The cuffs of my sleeves blossomed in frilly green waves, and, in short, I looked like a demented combination of a vampire and a blue and green clown suit. It was not pretty. After a couple of returns to the tailor (on the final visit I just left my jeans there to give them an idea of the fit I wanted-- the tailor would not accept that I could want something more snug than he had provided), I finally had a decent outfit. It turned out well (sort of), and my head gear, which was two papier machet dolphins "swimming" with each other, came together at the last instant. The outfit was ridiculous but funny, and the event was a hit.
I ate steak! for the first time in Dhaka, and it was damn good. The night was split into dancing time and skit time, with about 6 performances by some of the other 12 person tables. They were entertaining enough, and there was a great Bangladeshi cover band that played the disco hits.
I can't find any pictures to post, but I can link to Sara's flickr account so you can get an idea of what I looked like... http://www.flickr.com/photos/homeplacedrive/page2/ -- just scroll down the page!

This event was really interesting because it was ONLY ex-pats, and a great opportunity for everyone to feel "at home" in a big party and blow off some steam. This is less true for me and many of the embassy workers around Dhaka, but it has become clear that those doing NGO and charity work really need a way to forget about what they see everyday, and this bonanza was the perfect outlet. Many of the great skits focused on the craziness of Dhaka-- topics such as corruption, what we see as bizarre cultural values, oppression of women, trash in the streets were all in play, and often hilariously handled.
This was also a great party becuase EVERYONE was in some amazing costume, as it is so easy to get tailor made apparel here.