Dancing under the stars

So that was Friday afternoon. The night was something else. Josepha had been helping some seminarians organise a fundraising dance in town, and it was the talk of the afternoon, with everyone asking everyone else if they were going. Lots of people sounded like they were up for a night out, and I was looking forward to a night on the town. Transport was to be provided, and there was supposed to be an early run and a late run with a hired PMV. Pia, Mr and Mrs Andrew, Ros and I elected to wait for the second bus trip which was supposed to be coming around 8.30, which gave us plenty of time to eat, get ready, and (hopefully, I thought) finish watching Survivor before we left.

8.30
9 o’clock.
9.30 and we heard the bus make its way down to the lower teacher houses. I was cranky because it was still the bloody cricket on EMTV and obviously the scheduling had changed so there was no Survivor – but we were ready to hit the dance floor.

Then we heard the bus come back up – and keep going! Mr Andrew went to chase it up the driveway, but it was already gone. Apparently it was all full up, and had no room to fit us in, that’s why it didn’t stop.

We rang down to Josepha’s place and were told that it would make another trip later that night – but that it would probably take a while. Ros had come to join us, and we settled down on the verandah or in front of the box to wait, but Mr Andrew jumped in another passing car, and Mrs Andrew decided to go to bed instead.

The bus didn’t come back until 11.30, and by that time we were the only 3 left to go. Ros didn’t want to go with just us and the driver in the bus, so it was Pia and I on a quiet trip into town, to meet up with the others at Lamana.

I’d never been to this part of the nightclub before. It’s got 2 separate venues, The City and Gold Club, and I’d only been to the Gold Club a couple of times last year. It was a pretty classy joint, and this venue was nice too, though I’m sure everyone who looked (stared) at me as I walked in thought I’d made a mistake and chosen the wrong door! (solo paleface once again…)

Unfortunately there wasn’t the crowd of people I had thought would be there (well there was a crowd, but not many I knew), and Josepha and Veronica were on the door taking tickets, so that left Pia and I alone to go out and dance (as they urged us). I wasn’t keen on jumping straight in to that, so we went to stand with the men for a while but almost immediately I had a bloke come and ask me to dance. I thought he was one of the men from our group, so off I trotted and joined him on the dance floor, where as usual I felt conspicuous but told myself to forget it and just have fun. One song was enough though, so I said I needed a drink and got us a beer before heading back to Pia and the others near the gate. As soon as I got there I had my “squad” close in around me and tell me they were body-guarding me, and to say no if he asked me to dance again. Apparently I was just as conspicuous as I felt, and they had all been watching him and how dare he be so bold, and this one’s son-in-law wanted to fight him for trying to dance with Ms Conolly, and so on and so on… Whew, talk about being protected! I had thought they knew this bloke, but turns out no one did and they had all really resented him pulling a stunt like that (!) so quickly. I spent the next 20 minutes being hidden in the ticket booth while they stood around me, glaring at this man who kept searching for me!

Bit of overkill, I thought, but it was nice to know I had so many people looking out for me. We soon found a seminarian friend I knew, so he was my official bodyguard for the rest of the night, along with Josepha’s babysitter and cousins and Pia. So I managed to get out of that little booth and onto the dance floor and have a good time. Bit disappointing to find that my other seminarian friend with otherwise occupied with his girlfriend for the night (!) but I had fun - even though I was pretty ready to be going home come 3am.

Saturday was a late morning – both too late and too early, strange as that sounds. I woke up at 9.45, wishing I could stay in bed for another few hours, but realized with a rush that I was supposed to be meeting Heidi in town in about half an hour. A quick shower and a gingerbread cookie before jumping in the car to head to POM Grammar Market. Once there I wandered around for about 40 minutes, but came to the conclusion that I’d missed her (again! – too late this time). Oh well. It’s always good to have a look around, although for once I didn’t buy much. I already have enough to start my own craft market, but usually I can’t resist adding to the collection, so I was proud of myself for being more discerning this time and not buying stuff just for the hell of it.

I figured rather than drive back to Bomana I’d see if Lea was home because I knew she’d be going to her Business Women’s meeting at 12.30 and that way I could tag along and see if I could find Heidi too. It all worked out well, and we went along to the meeting and saw some of Daniel WasWas’s work (a PNG artist), and listened to a really interesting talk from a women who’s here as the Coordinator (?? Not sure of title, but effectively Boss) of the Bomana Prison. Wow, she was really incredible – what she’s achieved in the short time she’s been here was inspirational, and I was really impressed with not just what she had to say but the way she talked about her work and her hopes for what she wanted to achieve. Definitely made the meeting worthwhile, and even made up for the Bilum Wear women not being there with their gear.

A quick shop and a lazy swim and toktok were on the cards afterwards (tho’ we were brief on our usual All Saints update and discussion because Nev didn’t come down to the pool with us – and seeing his reactions to the conversation is half the fun of it!) until it dawned on me that the sun was setting (in the west!) and I’d better get cracking getting back out to Bomana.

And I didn’t want to be late because last night was Firehouse – and the Grade 10 and 12’s last dance party.

I’ve said before how much I love these nights because the girls are so funny – and last night was no exception. They started the night with a whole lot of competitions, group and individual, for all the various styles. I came down in time to see the end of the reggae and the contemporary/pacific styles – and the RNB. And boy was that an eye-opener! I knew Marjellah would be soaking up the limelight (where she got that little shake-your-bon-bon skirt I don’t know, but I was sure glad she had shorts on underneath!) but it was Eileen who really stole the show. That girl was a mix of Christine Anu ‘fro and outfit and JLo shape with her booty-girl moves – I’ll never be able to look at her without giggling again! Shameless, and hilarious – and soaking up every second of being both. I really don’t know where these girls get their confidence and freedom from but I am forever envious.

I ended up kicking off my shoes and joining them later in the free-for-all, a mix of fun and self-consciousness and sadness that this was the last night of this with them. I took my camera hoping to record some of those moments, but sadly it was so dark and such bad conditions for this little auto digital that good photos were never going to happen. But no pictures could ever come close anyway to recording nights like these – they’re precious and indefinable and so much fun, and they’ll always be a big part of my memories of emville.