Szalagavató

this is me when i got home from the ribbon ceremony. i was happy and wearing my new sweater so i took a picture. that's who i am.

this afternoon i went to the szalagavató (ribbon ceremony) at ZIG (my school). i had been hearing music all week long at school because kids were practicing for this event.

in the begining all of the classes who will graduate this year, the school-leavers, walked on stage with their form teachers to receive ribbons from them. the form teachers are with the kids from 9th to 12th grade. the teacher had a pillow with the ribbons pinned on it and she distributes the ribbons to the kids one at a time, kissing each student on the cheeks. to save time two classes went at once.

each class chose a different skirt, some black, long, short, blue, with stripes, etc. the white shirts they're wearing are a uniform everyone in the school has but they only wear it on special occasions. so far i've seen them three times.
the kids all seemed to take it very seriously. there wasn't any joking around or silliness as there might have been in an american ceremony. it was neat to see each kid's face for a full 5 seconds as they stood at the front of the stage. emotions seemed to range from embarrased, shy, nervous, fear, and this-is-lame, to pride, honor, and confidence. i have to say i was also impressed with the guys who helped the ladies down off the stage (you can see them in both pictures, in front of the stage). they were solemn, helpful, respectful, polite. truly gentlemen. i noticed this because i kept comparing the ceremony to how i think such a ceremony would go at home. it's kind of like a graduation (at the start) but it's just different somehow. i really liked it. there was beautifully dramatic music playing while the school-leavers were ribboned and people's moods seemed to swell in time to the music.

after the ribbons some 11th year kids recited poems and sang together. it wasn't terribly exciting (i couldn't understand the poems or songs) but i liked that part too because those are kids i actually know and teach. so, horray for 11A and 11B!

....and then the dancing started....

this was the first one, by far the most elegant. it was beautifully choreographed. i tried not to laugh upon hearing seal's kiss from a rose though i did find it pretty amusing.


this video shows what happens when hungarians start applauding. they first applaud like regular applause, then they all find the same rhythm and clap to it together. it's a phenomenon i noticed at the opening ceremony of our school and the opening of the new dorm. i like it because it lets the audience perform too... sort of.


this was a fun one - grease! they had choreographers teach them the dances and they were executed pretty well, i think! also, i noticed especially with this group, that they had MUCH more confidence while dancing than they did when they received their ribbons and faced the crowd of families applauding them. it's probably because dance is a familiar thing to them (people folk dance as an extracurricular activity all throughout school) while familial recognition and praise is more foreign. well, that's just my opinion.



ahh, this one was fun to watch because everyone seemed happy while they were dancing. like, they smiled and stuff. whoa. i'm not too into the music of ABBA, but it was a great dance.



favorite!


this one was ok... maybe i was just getting tired by the end. i like the music but the dance wasn't very complicated or extremely interesting to watch. but the costumes were SO GOOD!



all in all, i'm very glad i went. i loved seeing students dancing and moving on to the next stage of life. life after high school - well, they do have to finish the year. i'm not sure why they do this whole thing at the begining of the year, but this way they get to wear the ribbons they got today for the rest of the year. kinda cool.

ok, i'm off to the ball in a little while. another post to follow!