3. December 2008

So, since PDC is on sunday, and it is a very big deal, I want to tell you guys about it.

First of all, PDC stands for Pre-Debutante Cotillion, and is a dance they have every year in Atlanta, at different Country Clubs.
There is this tradition called "Debutante" - very southern, very old, and not really practised anymore. Only by some few, very rich people. 
Wikipedia's definition of a Debutante:
A debutante (deb or presentation ball) (from the French débutante, "female beginner") is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her "debut" or "coming out". Originally, it meant the young woman was eligible for marriage, and part of the purpose was to display her to eligible bachelors and their families with a view to marriage within a select upper class circle. This traditional event varies by region, but is typically referred to as a debutante ball if it is for a group of debutantes. A lone debutante might have her own "coming-out party", or she might have a party with a sister or other close relative.

A debutante ball in the United States, is used more often in the South, and some other countries. Debutantes are usually recommended by a distinguished committee or sponsored by an established member of elite society. 

So as said, a debutante is "presented" to the society in those big parties. The girls are normally 16-18, I think. 
So, since they were not really aloud to date before that (in the olden days, I am pretty sure that it isn't that way anymore) they did not know how to act or dance or stuff like that. Therefore, they have the PDCs. So that the girls that are preparing for those debutante dances, can "practise".
In the beginning, only the girls that were actually going to have those fancy Debutante parties were invited, but Westminster protested some years ago, and said that they could invite ALL girls, or no girls at all. So now, all girls get invited.
The tradition is that the girl askes the boy, since she is the one that gets invited to the PDC. Which means, that boys can not go if they don't get asked by a girl.
There is a PDC for every grade (and that includes all school. So only 4 PDC dances a year) - Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior PDC. Of course, the girl can only attend the one for her own grade (the Sophomore in my case - which is by the way pronounced soff'mor'), but a boy can get asked to all four of them.
It is only girls from the private schools of Atlanta that get invited, because the Debutante tradition a upper-class thing, and the upper-class kids mainly are attending one of the private schools. 
The thing is that a ticket is expensive - 240$ for a girl and her date. I mean, since I live in a wealthy society, it isn't a big deal for them, but it was for me.
Anyways, someone got me invited even though I had not paid this ridiculous amount of money. So GREAT! :D


Then, what actually happens:
The tradition is that the girl askes the boy in a very creative way. Most girls just bake a cake and writes "...name of boy.. PDC with ...name of girl.. ?" on it with icing. Something boring like that. Mostely it is because when one girl in the grade askes, the rest of them FREAK OUT and ask immediately the boy they want to ask before somebody else askes him. And then, they don't have the time to come up with something funny, so they just ask, and bring cookies or a cake the next day. Seriously, 80% of the girls asked within 4 days. I am not exaggerating. It really is a big deal. At least in my grade.
Also, a boy can't say no. Unless if he is out of town or doing something else that night.
So some of the more creative ways to ask would be to do it in class - writing it on the board, come to their play/sport/whatever practice and ask, something like that. I even saw a girl doing it during one of the peprallies with the cheerleader squad with big signs saying "PDC? ..and then the boys name..". That was cute!

Then, like for prom, the girls get very excited about it, so they go buy a fancy dress, get their hair and make up done by professionals, get pedi- and manicure, all that kind of stuff to look fabulous. 

The PDC itself is only 3 hours (7-10 pm), and people eat and dance.
But before that, people have picture parties. A girl invites usually 5-10 girls and their dates to their home, where they take a lot of pictures (1 million probably) and kind of "warm up" to the PDC itself. Of course, they invite the girls they hang out with. 
I was invited to a couple (hihi, people love me, they all want me to come! No, I'm just kidding, haha), but I am going to Aubrey's. She got me an invitation to the PDC, so I couldn't say no to her. That would not be nice of me. And I try to be nice. AND I like her! So how great is that?
Sometimes people have after parties. Some of them are harmless, some of them are more hardcore and include drinking (which is a BIGGGG NO-NO here. it really is something that is not accepted at all. And it is illegal - I can not break the law ; AFS rule #2). 
I am going to an after party at Anna Willoughby's house - ice cream eating and chilling. FUN!

So that is pretty much it..

Now, I wrote all of this, because I finally asked!
It was a bit late - since it is on Sunday, but Glenn knew we were going together. I just didn't do it officially.
So, Leigh Ann, Rachel and I dressed up all Christmas-ish (christmas vests with christmas ornaments, santa-hats, big red bows all that kind of stuff), went to the art department of the school and painted 11 signs with one letter each (P D C G L E N N ? -> -> [the two arrows were pointing at me]) in red and green. 
On Wednesday nights, Glenn has a'capella at Westminster, so we decided to take advantage of that. So we took 4 signs each ( only 3 for me, since I had no arrows), stood outside the windows of the Chorus room were they practise, and got someone to make him look out the window. Then Rachel started out with taking the P sign up, Leigh Ann took the D sign up, I took the C sign up, and so on, till we spelled the entire thing. All the boys were laughing and seemed to think it was funny.
Glenn came running out very happy and also surprised. He said that he didn't expect me to do something like that. He thought I just would have made some cookies - something laaaaaame, as he said.
It was very funny! We really had a lot of fun preparing it.
Rosalee took some pictures, so as soon as I get them, I'll post them. We looked ridiculous, so they are rather funny pictures.

So that was PDC info! I thought it was relevant since it is a very important thing here.
I am really excited about it. They all say it is a lot of fun.
I will tell you about it once I actually know. 

I hope y'all are doing well!