YAY!!

Happy Halloween Ellybuddy.
Yep, it's technically over here, but where it counts- back in the Motherland, kids are probably glancing at the clocks in their classes at school, waiting for the bell to ring so they can go home, get their costumes on, and get to getting as much candy as humanly possible.

Halloween was celebrated at my school last Friday, and it was, ummmmmm, chaotic. Disorganized. Loud. But fun, I guess. Most of the kids seemed to enjoy themselves. This year, Jane had the idea to print up little invitations for all the kids. Inside, there was a list of all the activities that were going to take place. I thought it was a great idea, but the thing is that out of the ten events listed, five of them didn't happen.

The first couple games tanked, pretty much. I had put together the activities and I thought that I explained how they worked well enough. Jane said she understood. But, as I mentioned previously, her listening skills really suck.

First up was a "candy toss." I'd gotten three of those plastic jack-o-lantern things which were supposed to be tied to one kids waist or around their neck. Kids on their own team were supposed to be given a certain amount of candies each, and then they'd try to toss them into the jack-o-lantern. The kid with the container could move around, but not use their hands. The team with the most collected candies gets to keep 'em and distribute amongst themselves. That was how it was supposed to happen.

What ended up taking place was that Jane gave a couple kids the plastic pumpkins, and unloaded handfuls of candies to the kids and told them to "GO!" Kids were just walking up to the jack-o-lantern and putting them in. Candies that didn't make it in were re-distributed to the kids, and once one "team" had no more candies Jane went "YAY!!" and the pumpkins and candies disappeared. "Wasn't that fun?"

Next up was the "spider web" which I thought was going to be a real laugh. We had 8 small balls of yarn, and the kids were each supposed to get one, stand in a circle, tie one end around their waist and then toss to another person who would tie that ball around their waist or leg or whatever, and this would be repeated until the balls were all tangled up and the kids were woven into a spiders web. Then, on "GO!", the kids had to untangle themselves, following their colour and gathering up their yarn until they were free. The winner would get a prize.

Well, Jane had the kids toss all their balls until they were gone, and then she told the kids, "Look! We made a spider web! Wasn't that fun? YAY!!" And then she told them to shrug off the yarn they had wrapped around themselves, leaving a huge crazy knot in the middle that we tried to undo, but finally gave up on, after helpful kids kept coming up, grabbing a clump, and running away - pulling the knot wickedly tight.

After that, I just totally gave up, and spent the rest of the day blowing up balloons for the dart room. There was no point to the dart room. The kids were popping them as quickly as we'd tape them up. "Yay!" shouted Jane. "You popped a balloon! Now go check out the 'Run Around With Scissors Room!'"

"YAY! You ran around with scissors! Now let's go to the 'Scream Our Heads Off Room!"

There was no "Bobbing for Apples," even though we advertised there would be and we had all the materials. Jane turned it into "Who Can Eat A Apple So Fast?" game. There was no "Scavenger Hunt." I don't know why. No Bingo, even though we'd made and laminated cool Halloween cards.

I spent a lot of time in the Craft Room, which went over really well. I'm glad I didn't let Jane ix-nay it. I coloured some cool ones for myself.

My Rainbow-Gay Skeleton. He'th fabulouth!


Ghosts and Pumpkins, propped up by Smokes and A Beer.
(Well earned, and after work.) Jane wouldn't okay my suggestion for a "Spooky Smokey Halloween Bar Room." Hmph.

These two boys, dressed as girls, shared the top prize for costumes.

They're smart-ass terrors in the classroom.
I love the kid in stripes. He's been my student as long as I've been here and he's sweet and good natured and tries really hard. He's also rocking out the latest fashion trend in Korea, as was pointed out already at The Iceberg. Seriously, what's up with all the stripes?

Here's another couple of costumes.

Of the kids that sported costumes, I'd say that more than half of them were "Scureamuh." Pictured is "Taekwondo Scureamuh." The little Skeleton is angry because she wanted to be a Pretty Witch, but the stupid Stationery Store across the street had sold out of Witch dresses. So she had to be a Pretty Skeleton.

Oh, and I was a CAT.

Meow.
"YAY!!" said Jane. "You all screamed your heads off! Now let's play 'Pull Jelly's Tail Off A Million Times!' Yay!! Try to get her ears too! Hell, just rip her apart!! Now we're having a party! YAY!!!!!"