Saturday night I had spent the night at my friend Klara's house with Ana. So Sunday morning we woke up at her house and had some breakfast. My host mom was coming to get me around 9:45 to go shopping for the day. I had left some stuff at Ana's house so we took Ana home and got my stuff. Then my host mom and I made our way to Olympia (the big shopping mall) for a day of shopping the sales.
When we first got to the mall we could tell that it was going to be a busy day. We started looking at all of the shoe stores because it was supposed to start snowing soon and I still didn't have snow boots. I managed to bring around 10 pairs of shoes from the US but I didn't bring snow boots, nor do I wear any of the 10 now. I found one pair of boots that I liked and they were a good price, but I wanted to keep looking before I decided on them. We went to some of Zora's favorite clothing stores and got her a new shirt. Then we went to a store that sold almost everything and we looked for some presents for the grandparents. After a bit of shopping we were starting to get hungry, so we went upstairs to the food court.
There is a pizza place that we sat down at and I managed to read the menu in Czech and order without a problem. As we waited for our food to come we noticed that they were pretty busy, and some people were not very patient. After watching two families leave the same table in about 10 minutes, we decided to try to guess how long the third would stay. We ate all of our pizza as we joked, and then we payed and went to finish up our shopping. I went back to get my snow boots that I had decided to get, and then we went home. On our way home we went grocery shopping and shopping to find some bows that I needed for my white ball the next evening.
When we got home I was exhausted from a long weekend and a lot of shopping, so I watched a couple of movies and then I facetimed my friend Kieu. I told my host parents how excited I was for the snow since it doesn't really snow in Eugene. I was just watching a movie and hanging out in my room when my mom came in and was looking quite excited. She called to Ruda and I to come out of our rooms, so we did. When we came out we were very confused until she pointed out the window and I saw that it was snowing! Ruda didn't seem too impressed and walked back to his room, but I was beyond excited. I went out to take pictures to send to my family back home. I was honestly so excited I almost cried. I had forgotten how much I love snow and winter in general.
Monday morning I was so happy that I had just bought snow boots because when I looked outside there were a couple of inches of snow! I went to the city later in the morning with Robert for my Czech lesson.
To be completely honest, when I first found out that I would be living in a village I wasn't super excited. That was going to be a big change for me because even though I don't live in a big city, I love the city life. I was a bit worried, but I told everyone I was excited, trying to get myself excited too. And now, I couldn't be happier to be in the village. While everyone in the city was excited to see a few snowflakes, they woke up to no snow. But in the village, I was able to wake up to beautiful snow and it made me fall in love with the village life all over again.
I looked a little silly in my snow boots in the snowless city, but I was happy. School got out early, so I went to hang out with a couple of my Czech friends from school. They had had their Prodloužená (white ball) over the weekend so I asked them a bunch of questions since I was nervous for mine that evening.
When it was time for both of them to go home, I headed over to Ana's school to pick her up and go to her house with her. She had made some Mexican food for her family the day before so she and I ate the leftovers for a late lunch. Then it was time for me to go to my mom's to get ready.
I was exhausted and really just not feeling it when it was time to get ready, but there was nothing I could do about it. My host mom felt my mood and offered me some coffee chocolate to snack on while I put the big white dress on. I slowly and carefully put on the pantyhose that I have grown to like in general, but I will always hate putting on. Then it was time to put the skirt on with the big hoop around the bottom. I wasn't really sure how that would work in the car, but I tried not to think about it too much. Then I asked my host mom to help me with the dress. Once it was on I stood and waited while my mom laced up the back of the dress. Finally it was on, then came thoughts about hair. I had straightened it in the morning, but it wasn't anything special. A lot of girls go to the hairdresser before but I hadn't really thought about it until it was too late. So I decided I was not coming up with any ideas and really it looked fine, so we just went with it.
I packed up all of my stuff and put on my heels and we made the walk down to the car. We moved the front seat all the way forward and then I picked up my dress and just kind of flopped into the car backwards. The hoop was then at a weird angle and basically holding my dress up and open all the way, but Zora and I just laughed. We drove to her parents house to drop off a couple of things, but I stayed in the car because I didn't need to flop any more than necessary.
I got out of the car and walked into the dancing school to meet my partner, and Zora went to park her car and meet up with Robert. We were finally allowed in and we checked our coats and went upstairs to our designated area. We all just hung out for awhile, and since I don't really know anyone I just talked to my partner, Matěj. After awhile we headed down to the dance floor to say hi to all of our parents.
After saying hello, it was time to do our entry walk and dance. I felt good about it, but it was a bit intimidating to have that many parents with that many cameras out. After the whole walk I was happy we had done it! We did three dances with our partners to start the night. We had to do all of those dances with a rose in one hand that we had gotten from the guys during the walk. I was really proud of myself for actually being able to do all of the dances even with a rose. After the first few dances it was the guys' turn to dance with their partner's moms. For the rest of the night there were more songs, and people came and went from the dance floor as they pleased. They decided to do the chicken dance for one of the parent dances to bring back memories for everyone and make everyone laugh. I hadn't heard that song or seen the dance since I was in kindergarten.
Later in the evening they held the competitions to see who was the best dancer from the boys and the girls. First was the guys competition, so all of the girls got their 5 ribbons and waited for a partner. Then the guys had three songs to get as many ribbons as they could from all the girls. The girls were supposed to give the guys ribbons if they thought he was a good dancer. At the end of the three songs the guys found their partners and the girls counted their ribbons for them. If they thought their guy had a lot they sent them up to the front to see who had won. The top 3 got prizes and talked on stage for a little bit. Then it was the girls' turn for the competition. They guys had homemade necklaces that they gave to the girls they thought were good dancers. I got 3 necklaces during the 3 songs. Honestly the "best dancer" competition was more of a popularity contest, but nobody really seemed to care either way.
After the competitions they changed up the music and lights and it turned into more of a disco party. They started off that part of the night with teaching a more complicated version of the Macarena. After the Macarena there were more disco songs and people started dancing in groups.
It had been a long day, and I still didn't know many people from my class, so we decided to go home. It was a bit of a struggle to sit in the car for the 30 or 40 minute drive home in the big dress, but I made it. When we got home I waited in the car until my dad had a hold on Bert (the dog). He gets excited and jumps everywhere when we get home, but I couldn't ruin the rented dress. Once we got inside my mom helped me get out of the dress and then I took a shower and went to bed since it was almost midnight.
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