Making Memories

Friday, Tirana International School hosted its first annual Fall Festival! Glad to report that it was a successful evening. Everyone pulled together and did their part, thank God. The parent group supplied tasty treats and the teachers and students were responsible for the carnival games. If you're thinking, "Gosh, that sounds like a lot of work for the teachers," you are right. It was so worth it. Many students celebrated Halloween for the very first time. The best part of the evening was when our kids visited the classrooms (which are in houses) and trick or treated. Egla passed out candy and had a blast. The little students especially loved the 5 year old booth. The students got to dig in the sand box for buried treasure. That was Diane's idea (she currently teaches the 6s). I dressed as a pirate as did many of my adorable students!

Saturday night was another Halloween bash. This was held at Diane's house where she entertained about half of the Tirana international community. We (meaning the four of us girls) had been planning our costume for over a month. The seamstress next to the school followed Entela's design so we had custom made costumes! (For only about $7!). We went as.....the first national Albanian figure skating team!!!! The ice skating rink down the road even loaned up figure skates for the evening. We were simply adorable. I'm only posting a few pictures of the evening because, frankly, I was having trouble choosing!
We practiced our routine before we left for the party. Of course, we needed a routine! We really hoped that we'd have a chance to perform it. Perform it we did. Not once but five times. In front of my students' parents, might I add. Really, I don't know if I can make it through parent teacher conferences with my dignity now!

The P.E. teacher had taken a video of us with Tracey's camera. We all loved this picture of us watching the video. I think it captures our personalities. And boy were we full of personality! We danced until 2:00 in the morning. Diane knows how to throw a party!

So we won the prize for the best group costume! We also happened to be the ONLY group costume. Florian won the prize for the funniest costume. Sarah loaned him her guitar and painted some awesome facial hair which definitely put him over the top! Amy and Travis won for best couple. The dressed up as Tirana buildings (which also won Amy the prize for most creative!). I love, love, love living in this community. It isn't everywhere that you can party with parents, boogy with your bosses, and carouse with your colleagues!