The Ball: A Saga in Four Parts

THE BALL: A SAGA IN FOUR PARTS

PROLOGUE: ONCE UPON A TIME

On the evening of Tuesday February 24th 2009, Emily May Bateman attended her first ball. 

That's right. A ball. 

But not just any ball. This was the Elmayer-Kranzchen Ball in the Imperial Hofburg Palace. Elmayer is the name of the most prestigious dancing school in all of Austria. Dancers from this company performed a number of pieces for us during the evening. But I'm getting WAY ahead of myself. Let me take you back a ways, and this will all start to make sense (name that movie). 

PART I: FAIRY GODMOTHERS

The month of February is "Ball Season" in Vienna. There are balls in every major city building: the Rathaus, Hofburg, Staatsoper, Belvedere, you name it. We were lucky enough to be here during this festive time of Austrian tradition. 

When the question was raised of going to a ball, I decided I didn't want to go. I had no formal dress and I felt like it would be a waste of my time. So for the week while others were making plans to attend the ball, I was making plans to spend the night at home doing something else. 

On Sunday night following Religion and Experiencing Vienna class,  Naomi told me to come with her. A friend of hers who now lives in Vienna had a dress and she wanted me to try it on. I felt pretty skeptical, but I decided to humor her anyway by trying on the pretty periwinkle strapless gown (I had no idea if it would fit). There was also a shawl that came with it so I would need to manipulate it in such a way as to make it modest enough to wear! 

So I tried it on- and it fit me! It wasn't very long- my feet stuck out the whole way, but it was technically floor-length and a very pretty color. I motioned for Naomi to come see me in it (I didn't want to embarrass the boys by coming out in my immodest attire!)- when Sister Vincent saw me (Sister Vincent is Dr. Vincent's beautiful wife who is about 4 feet 9 inches tall). She was ALL over it. She said "That color looks so good on you! Here, let me see if I can help you with that shawl." So we went into the bedroom, configured the shawl in a fairly modest fashion- and then she busted out her JEWELRY! She lent me an opal necklace and earrings to borrow that Dr. V had given her from a singing trip to Australia.

So basically at this point, I had no option but to GO TO THE BALL!! I got really excited. 

PART TWO: LOOKING AND ACTING THE PART OF A PRINCESS

However, I had no shoes. So the day of the ball, I went and bought some white flats for 10 euro at a nearby store. Size 41. Should have been size 42. Oh well- I still enjoyed myself immensely despite the shoes being a tad too small. 

I packed up a suitcase of all of my necessities to get ready, and I put on my makeup and did my hair at the church (where we had Opera Workshop-  by the way, Carli, Britain and I ROCKED our trio (Dr. Vincent had NOTHING bad to say, just a few tweaks!!!)). Then I did the finishing touches and put on the actual gown at Carli and Britain's apartment, while listening to Disney Princes music. 

We felt pretty classy and cute, until we had to ride the SUBWAY to the ball. Most people get a taxi or drive their own car or what have you. We rode the subway to Ty's apartment where we took pictures and then walked to the ball (Ty lives quite close to the Hofburg). Everyone kept telling me I looked like Cinderella- and I was like, "Thanks, I know." - haha I'm just kidding.

More pictures to come, but here's one. A guy was walking around with a camera and got all of the single ladies from our BYU study abroad in this picture! We're sitting here on the steps leading up to the orchestra and band. Everyone looks so lovely! 

The atmosphere was fabulous. A live orchestra, live jazz band- and we sat on the steps and everyone took their turn dancing with Ty, since he was the only guy with seven women (Elizabeth, our friend from the Outreach Institute, came also. She's in more pictures to come). So we sat on these steps, mostly marveling that all of these people were so comfortable doing all of these dance steps. We saw some CRAZY dresses! We saw some cute couples, old and young. Everybody was so happy and lively! The lights were full on, and dancing was old school style. If there is something about Austria (other than the wealth of classical music) that is much much better than the United States, it would be the manner in which people dance. In America, most kids don't feel comfortable even moving their bodies unless the lights are really low. It's quite silly. Here, people learn the basic Cha-Cha, Fox Trot, Swing, Rhumba, "Boogie", Jive, Slow Waltz, Polka, and so on, from a young age! It was a beautiful thing to see so many people gliding around on the dance floor (not perfectly- but at least being happy to just dance!). 

So, as Ty was making the rounds amongst us girls, one time he got tired of dancing and started filming the orchestra. A violinist who was sitting on the outside closest to us saw him filming and started smiling for the camera and being ever so charming! His name is Mattias (Muh-TEE-us). Britain and Laura began to talk to him. He would talk and play at the same time. Then after he got a break (because the jazz band started playing), he and some of his friends came down from the orchestra and taught some of us how to dance!!! It was like a dream come true! I first danced with his friend Jared (Fox Trot, Slow Waltz, Boogie), then Bernhart. They were both about my age. They were so obliging and fun to talk to- not to mention EXCELLENT musicians. 

BEFORE AND AFTER PICS 

Then there were performances by the Elmayer Tanzschule (Dance School) a couple of times. I don't have any pictures or movies of this experience from the inside of the ball YET- but I'll post them as soon as my friends make them available online. 

Laura and I got EXTREMELY hungry toward the end of the ball, so we left early. We ate dessert at a cafe, then parted ways on our separate Strassenbahns. 

As I walked toward my stop, I contemplated what a wonderful evening it had been! How glorious! I was soo excited to tell Ursula and Emily all about my fun evening adventure. 

Oh crap. Keys. Where are my keys?

PART THREE: I TURN INTO A PUMPKIN

Oh, that's right. They're at Carli and Britain's apartment with all the rest of my stuff that I packed in a suitcase! 

Phone. Where is my phone? I need to call them. Oh yeah, my phone is dead and it's in their apartment too. 

Laura! I will run back to Laura and use her phone. Back to Laura I ran, to find that she had disappeared from her Strassenbahn stop. Oh crap. 

U-bahn! I'll take the U-bahn back to Carli's apartment and wait for them there. Maybe I'll run into them when they are on their way home on this U-bahn. So I ran down to U-2, to catch the VERY LAST U-bahn that ran to Shottenring (I didn't know it at the time). So I sat there, next to homeless drunk people, feeling scared. 

I got off the U-bahn, looked around, and was lost. I had gotten out of the U-bahn on the wrong side of the Donau Canal. Some guys were asking me where the nearest bar was. I just said "nein" and walked away. So I walk through the U-bahn station to walk to their place again. By this time, I'm crying a LOT. What if Britain and Carli are already back in their apartment, four stories above ground? I have no way to get a hold of them and then I have no way to get home because all possible forms of transportation are shutting down! And even if I get home, I have no key and no way to get inside so I might have to sleep at the bus stop, in my dress and my aching feet. 

I get to the door of their apartment and it's locked (one time it had been unlocked so I was hoping it would be, but it wasn't). I stood there in panic. Should I ring for their Hausfrau? I didn't want to bother her this late at night! It was 12:30! I was panicking, crying, and praying all at the same time. Something inside told me to calm down, so I did. 

Outside the door I pushed the button that said "Feest" on it, as that is their Hausfrau's name. I imagined what I would say to this woman who only speaks German: "Ich heisse Emily und ich bin Freund des Britain und Carli, bitte hilfen mich!" Yeah- I suck at German anyway, so I was crying about that too. 

Nobody picked up when I rang. So, I determined that I would try to go home. I didn't really know how I would get there, but I was going to start walking in the direction of my house.

Inside my head, I thought: "God wouldn't let me sleep on the street in this big city (and in this area of town where there are a lot of bars and drunk people out this late). I know He wouldn't. I'm going to solve this somehow, I just need to find out what I need to do."

PART FOUR: NICE STEPSISTERS HELP ME AVOID THE EVIL STEPMOTHER

And like a light at the end of a tunnel, as soon as I started walking toward my house, I saw Britain and Carli approaching from their Strassenbahn stop. I HAD BEEN SAVED!!

Carli and Britain both hugged me after I told them about my saga of trying to find them, and they let me inside. I quickly realized that I couldn't possibly get home at this hour and the only option was to sleep over at their apartment. I was DEAD tired, so I didn't mind, though I was very worried about Frau Feest seeing me in their apartment. Some of these host families are very particular and I don't want to intrude on her living space, so I hoped she would never know I had been in the house. 

We walked in quietly and recounted the events of the day and how great/magnificent they were (I was still reeling a bit from crying). So we ate a bit of food, tried to do our German homework, and finally at 2 am I huddled up against the wall-edge of Carli's twin bed, and fell asleep on my side.

I don't think I need to even go into details about how uncomfortable it is to share a twin bed, but, it was  and I will never try that again, not even for fun. Carli was so nice to let me sleep on her bed too. 

I was so lucky to have a suitcase of things at their apartment! I had all of my makeup, my toothbrush, and clothes. So really, I was set for a sleepover. 

Several hours later we awoke, crept out of the house so Feest wouldn't find me, and went to class at 9 am, with my luggage in tow. 

EPILOGUE: HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Now I am home, showered, fed, and clothed (cleanly). 

I came home to find my laundry neatly folded on my bed, a change of bed sheets, and also a new board support under my mattress so it doesn't collapse anymore! 

Life is wonderful. I'm so glad that I went to the ball! You've got to have the lows of being afraid that you'll have to sleep on the street to appreciate the highs of dancing in a pretty dress at a Viennese Ball. 

Hey, that kind of sounds like a Cinderella story (minus the slipper, prince charming, and the mice). 

As Britain said the other day "When did my life become SO AWESOME??"