Who would have ever thought that an invite to a St. Patrick's Day function would come with the note..."Black Tie, Suit, Formal"? Not me that's for sure. We found out about the St. Patrick's Day funk-she-on....to be held in the Guba Ballroom at the Hyatt while grocery shopping at the end of February. It came highly recommended by friends as the best of the Baku expat parties, bar none.....well, bar open like all the rest of them I actually.
John looked into getting us tickets....which he got....and then he forwarded the email with all the details. The "black tie formal" thing freaked me out more than a little. Why were we being asked to get all gussied up to drink green beer and eat corned beef and cabbage? I don't think I've ever dressed up for St. Pat's in anything more fancy than a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" tee shirt accessorized with a glitter covered bowler. I hadn't bargained on any more fancy parties following the Robbie Burns supper back in January. I thought I was going to get out of Dodge without having to dress up again. I am starting to get really sick of those black palazzo pants.
So, the big do wasn't exactly on St.Patrick's Day. It was on March 7th since everyone was going to be vacating Baku for spring break. Thank goodness for that! I figured that would take care of the requirement to wear green because it wasn't really St. Patrick's Day. In the end, I did find something to wear, got all dressed up and the whole thing was much better than I expected. A quick check of the seating chart let us know that we were sitting with the band.....this time a quintet of guys flown in from Ireland just for this. We exchanged cards and an "If you're ever in the area." Filling out the remaining spots in our group was a contingent of Norwegians who made me explain why St. Patrick was held in such high esteem by the Irish. And, I kid you not....me...this Irish Catholic girl who graduated from St. Patrick's High School and a Jesuit University.....came up with "It has something to do with some snakes." I thought I did much better with my explanation of a Leprechaun......"A cross between and elf and a troll." The Norwegians understood "troll".
Well, there wasn't a green beer in sight and the meal was beef tenderloin followed by chocolate mousse. This travesty, though delicious, was mitigated by the large bottle of Bailey's on every table. The Norwegians were good and fun company. They even shamed me into dancing. And as always we won something in the raffles....no trips this time, though. I now have my very own hurling stick and ball.
John looked into getting us tickets....which he got....and then he forwarded the email with all the details. The "black tie formal" thing freaked me out more than a little. Why were we being asked to get all gussied up to drink green beer and eat corned beef and cabbage? I don't think I've ever dressed up for St. Pat's in anything more fancy than a "Kiss Me I'm Irish" tee shirt accessorized with a glitter covered bowler. I hadn't bargained on any more fancy parties following the Robbie Burns supper back in January. I thought I was going to get out of Dodge without having to dress up again. I am starting to get really sick of those black palazzo pants.
So, the big do wasn't exactly on St.Patrick's Day. It was on March 7th since everyone was going to be vacating Baku for spring break. Thank goodness for that! I figured that would take care of the requirement to wear green because it wasn't really St. Patrick's Day. In the end, I did find something to wear, got all dressed up and the whole thing was much better than I expected. A quick check of the seating chart let us know that we were sitting with the band.....this time a quintet of guys flown in from Ireland just for this. We exchanged cards and an "If you're ever in the area." Filling out the remaining spots in our group was a contingent of Norwegians who made me explain why St. Patrick was held in such high esteem by the Irish. And, I kid you not....me...this Irish Catholic girl who graduated from St. Patrick's High School and a Jesuit University.....came up with "It has something to do with some snakes." I thought I did much better with my explanation of a Leprechaun......"A cross between and elf and a troll." The Norwegians understood "troll".
Well, there wasn't a green beer in sight and the meal was beef tenderloin followed by chocolate mousse. This travesty, though delicious, was mitigated by the large bottle of Bailey's on every table. The Norwegians were good and fun company. They even shamed me into dancing. And as always we won something in the raffles....no trips this time, though. I now have my very own hurling stick and ball.
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