So anther Halloween for the Drapers took place in China!
This time (compared to 2010…see previous blog for details) it was not as
chaotic and we actually got to run it in a more traditional, American style. We
also celebrated the festival over 2 days. That is the benefit of being in a
country that is more than 12 hours ahead…you get to do holidays more than
once!
Getting Ready for Halloween
These are some pics some of the hilarious Chinglish we
discovered while Halloween shopping.
We actually didn’t decide on our costumes, except for the
girls, until a couple days before Halloween!
Costumes
We, Foreign teachers, even began our festivities by dressing
up during the day for our classes. On the first day Lois dressed as pirate and
Robert went as the tooth fairy. However, he did not wear tights…thank
goodness! For the Halloween party
Robert had another costume prepared….something a little more his style. It was like Scream mask and skeleton
robe thing with some creepy hands for gloves. The tooth fairy was to throw the
students off, which he did. Under the mask was a zombie like face paint job
that included a zipper and some ace bandage. It turned out pretty cool. Lois
did most of the painting. Lois went to the party as a baker. Kenya was a witch
and Jasmin was a panda bear. We had lots of fun.
Home Party
Lois threw a costume party so the girls could have some
children to celebrate Halloween with and we wanted to have a costume party with
some people too. We had lots snacks and treats; Lois made delicious cupcakes.
The adults showed up anywhere from 30 -60 minutes late and the Drapers were the
only ones wearing costumes! When people finally showed up they sat around most
of the time while Lois and I played some games with the kids and ate snacks. The most important part of that party
was that Kenya had some other kids over to play with. There are not many kids around for her to play with who are
not in school ALL day!
School Party
So, a typical party for a school in China involves a talent
show and sometimes it is followed by carnival style games. This party was no
different other than the fact they allowed us to have an American twist on the
games. Robert taught one of his classes Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance. Robert
says they did much better in rehearsals. It turned out ok considering each
performance was done without real speakers. We had to use someone’s computer
speakers. Plus some other dance moves from Gangnam Style and some other song
that was a huge hit once upon a time in Asia.
The American games and activities included, pin the nose on
the witch, bobbing for apples, the mystery body part boxes, donut on string,
and bingo. We had a room for Halloween music and movies, but that failed. The
most popular games were the donuts on a string and bobbing for apples. Mostly
because they got to eat the game, but it was something fun they had never done.
The best part about the donuts is that Lois made them from scratch and they
were delicious!! Other than the 80 donuts and maybe that many apples, for about
140 students and at least 15 extra guests, there were bananas and lots of candy
and some crackers available to eat.
After the party
So we really wanted to have some American food for dinner so
we decided to go to Pizza Hut afterward. It’s about a 5 plus minute walk from
the school to the bus stop to take us to Pizza Hut. On that walk Robert took
advantage of his favorite Halloween tradition of scaring people for fun. Many
of the Chinese scare easy, but that didn’t matter. Robert played his role as a
zombie while walking the street and scared some people to the point of them
sprinting away in fear!!! Occasionally there was someone that didn’t get too
scared, but that didn’t happen often. It was great! Robert even kept the
costume on in Pizza Hut and scared the help! Sometimes it seemed that people
thought he was real zombie or had a real injury because only some schools celebrate
Halloween in China.
No comments:
Post a Comment