i can say MSG in chinese!: Halloweeeeeeeen!

So much to tell...but I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's just for fun, really, and who couldn't use more fun in their lives? In China, the holiday is mostly celebrated by foreigners at the bars and clubs, though you can locate places with meager decorations randomly throughout the city. For example, our gym, where nothing in English is spelled correctly and no staff speak English, they decorated with a plastic jack-o-lantern and pumpkin streamers. They also had a party...and I'm sure it had Chinese characteristics.

Anyway, because Halloween fell on a Monday this year, I decided to do the party thing on Saturday. Prepping my costume was a chore, because I decided to be a lion. I purchased a mane (aka two beard wigs) at a holiday store by one of my schools. They had nothing else I could use, so I hoped for the best in the random shops by my house. I located a furry scrunchy in a "cute shop" with cute things in it; this I used to sew ears. I then found a brown scrunchy which I cut up to make into a tail with some extra wig hair. I just needed a dress of some sort...

I looked and looked, knowing that somewhere, a Chinese shop was just waiting to provide a weird furry, fuzzy or tacky lion dress. It wasn't going particularly well until Friday night, when Bethie and Sara and I wandered around in a weird shop area with small clothing stalls selling similar yet all different clothes.

I saw it: gold, soft, shimmering. Mesh sleeves. Slightly ripped. PERFECT.

We bargained for two dresses and I paid about $9 for this ridiculous outfit. Couldn't have been more perfect, and it was appropriate for school too, wearing pants of course.

My friend Jen threw a house party on Saturday night, which was reminiscent of my college days. Sigh, I'm so old. We decided to take public transportation in our costumes. This was an interesting plan, but in a group, I suppose it worked.

Anna, me and Sara. We're at a bus stop.

Afterward, we moved on to a bar packed with witches, bunnies and boys with lame clothes they decided to call a "costume." I had a grand time dancing and in general causing a ruckus. My mane and tale were a hoot. So much so, in fact, that my tail went missing towards the end of the night...I think a taxi driver has it somewhere.

A bit too much fun...

That was my big party night, but the costume wasn't done yet. I remade my tail and prepared for Monday's classes. I work all day on Monday, at one school in the morning and one in the afternoon. I received many stares from parents as I waited for class to start, but they seemed to have some idea that there was a reason for my outfit.

Note: Chinese people are not particularly familiar with lions. Everyone (foreigners) at the Saturday party and the bar knew that I was a lion. At the schools, my kids thought I was alternatively a monkey or a tiger. My Chinese coworkers knew I was a cat, but lacking the vocabulary, also called me a tiger or a house cat. It was interesting observing their logic process, because they seemed to know I wasn't a tiger, clearly lacking stripes, but decided to call me the closest thing they could think of, even though in a part of their brain, they do know what a lion is. It sort of goes along with certain Chinese language/culture elements like how there is only one word for cups, mugs, glasses, tumblers, etc. (beizi), but a million words for dumpling items (which you CANNOT get wrong or everyone becomes confused). These things mystify me, but I also enjoy encountering them in my daily life.

Okay, so once I got to the class, my kids screamed and laughed for about ten minutes while I attempted to teach them English. It was semi-successful, but we had a good time. I taught them the song "5 Little Pumpkins" and made jack-o-lanterns with some paper things I made at home. I also brought in items to dress up in and gave away spider rings. By the way, my mommy sent me a care package filled with Halloween items and IT WAS AWESOME.

5 Little Pumpkins...

Pumpkin sack. Thanks Sherm!

Yep, this lion is teaching your children.

America!

I would demonstrate how to "make" a jack-o-lantern before turning the kids loose, but they really struggled to move beyond my example. It was truly exemplary of the rote-memorizing education system in China. Creativity is quashed in many instances. Every single class I had to remind kids that "there is no right or wrong way," a sentiment I'm not entirely sure they understood. They did try to get more crazy with the jack-o-lantern faces, though.

Some jack-o-lanterns. This one is deformed a bit.

I didn't wear the dress to the first school because those classes are less familiar with me and I was worried they would be too distracted by the furry, shiny material. Kids have no problem rubbing you, petting you or squeezing you, and I didn't need to give them a good excuse to do so.

My second school is one I teach at every day, so we have a good rapport. I changed into the dress, cracking up all the people in the Jazz office that day. I looked insane, but it worked. As I said, I love Halloween, so I like going all out.

We did lots of Halloween activities and some of my kids even dressed up!