Scream! It was Halloween!

I've had some trouble, bloggy-wise, on this end. First, at the beginning of the week my monitor died a high-pitched squealy death. It actually started a few weeks ago. Apparently that super high whine doesn't bother some folks. To me, it was like I imagine a dog whistle must sound. It was bothering me so much I thought about tossing my monitor off the balcony. No need to, though - it died like it was saying it was about to. Good riddance. My new (used) monitor cost me twenty bucks. Hello!

Overlapping that, blogger was blocked by many ISPs in Korea for a couple days, so I couldn't see my own blog - or many other blogspot sites I adore. But that seems to be over now, so here we are. Let's journey back to a couple days ago - ahhhh yes, I remember it well. Halloween.

Here's a pretty little devil and her slightly spun sister.


Our Halloween Party happened and it didn't entirely suck. I considered after my Suckoween post that a lot of my hang-ups about why our party would suck might be not only because of past parties here, but also my own ideal of what Halloween should be like. My students don't know anything about that. I probably could have handed them a pink balloon and produced a sharp hat pin, popping the balloon and jarring their nerves. Voila! Halloween! Then I'd hand them a hard boiled egg and send them on their way. Their moms would ask, "How was the Halloween Party?" and they'd reply, "It was Poppy and Eggy!"

But, really. She's Devilish, eh?

Good kid! By and large, it was my most enthusiastic students - the ones who come to class wanting to learn and participate - who put the most effort into their costumes.

Here's a little devil sporting a "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" look.

Twelve dixie cups of stuff and a bowl of jja-jjambuk ramen. Good job! He even ate a can of gas, used to power the portable grill to make the dduk boki, mandu and steamed red bean dumplings! He's gas-i-licious!

Here's a pretty witch!


And here's the girl who was so upset at not being able to be a pretty witch last year she just opted for the taekwondo look - sans Scream mask.


Here's a Witch-Cat and a Costume Abstainer enjoying some noodles.


Here's a bit of a trouble maker and his adorable little sister. Last year she was SO SHY she wouldn't come near me, but this year she greeted me with a "HI!" and wanted me to paint her face!


And I did paint some faces. I was present for our Halloween party, but sort of sidelined. I spent time with the kids and I was busy doing some prep work for the games (while other stuff was going on) but I didn't man my kitchen post from 4-5 and 6-7 like I was supposed to. It was hot, crowded, and noisy in there and we were well staffed with the middle school girls taking control. While the games were going on I retreated to a classroom and did some painting that students were begging me to do all day.


Snakes.


Frog.


Butterfly.

I didn't take pictures of all the paintings. I could barely get the kids to stay still while I was working on them. Once I said I was finished, they shot off like balloons you let the air out of. And speaking of balloons,...

Meanwhile, games happened outside. Screaming games. Loud screaming shouting chaos games happened. This was blow up the balloon until it pops game. Two kids blew up balloons until they popped while a lobby full of other kids screamed and plugged their ears.

I couldn't believe how big this kid blew his balloon up. Good lungs!

Here's my favourite costume.

It's the same kid who won last year by cross dressing. Good for him!
I've got to say, my students just don't seem very creative for the most part. Before the party, I had asked what they were planning to dress up as, and a lot of the students said they weren't dressing up because they didn't have money to buy a costume. I told them back in Canada I dressed up every year and I NEVER spent money on a costume. I drew some pictures on the board for ideas they could use: a gypsy, a cowboy, a pirate, a hobo, etc. Out of a class of eight, four of them were wearing striped tops. "Look at you!" I said, "You're zebras!" And then I drew a convict on the board - wearing stripes, an ID number and a ball and chain. "Get creative!" I urged. Never mind. That mummy pictured was by far and away the most imaginative costume. He ended up winning the "Ugliest Costume" prize.
The day after the party I grabbed the boy's hand and told him I thought his costume was really awesome. He smiled and said "Thank you."

Oh, and I was a cat. Again.
But I went bit mental with the face paint.

We should re-name "Halloween" here. "Pull Jelly's tail" is more appropriate. In Asia there's an abundance of short-tailed or no-tailed cats. Know why? It's beause children identify tails as pull toys. Yank 'em off! I know this because my cat tail was yanked 5,670 times. And now I'm a no-tail.

Many of the kids kept calling me "musowah" (scary.) I corrected them. What they meant was "jinja yebudah" (very pretty.)
Maybe they thought I was scary because I kept charging at them and screaming like this:

Maybe!