Spooky Celebrations

It's the most wonderful time of the year!! Skeletons and ghosts, pumpkins and apples, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger, the boogie man and Count Dracula. What's not to love about the scariest time of the year when the air is so crisp, you can almost taste it? The leaves look as though they are on fire and our hands are gooey as we carve our jack-o-lanterns.

Cold weather, colorful leaves, pumpkins, scarves, apple cider, haunted houses, hay rides, and apple picking has swept through America but they are nowhere to be seen in China (the temperature has finally dropped to below 70 and let's hope it stays that way!!). So, since this is my favorite time of year and I'm not getting anything from China, I decided to bring the autumnal festivities to Hangzhou.

On October 16th, I was in charge of the English Corner on campus. I was a bit nervous. I have never been to an English Corner before and I was pretty lost when it came to coming up with something to do with the students. I ended up deciding to have a small Halloween party and we carved jack-o-lanterns out of watermelons (because pumpkins are impossible to find here in China!). I brought the watermelons into the English Corner, handed the students knives and sent them to work... and they were AWESOME! For being a group of kids who have never carved a jack-o-lantern in their lives, they were willing to get dirty and sticky as they hollowed out their watermelons and they managed to all carve great faces into fantastic jack-o-lanterns.

Check out my last post for a tutorial on watermelon jack-o-lanterns right here! Yes, it's a bit late to make one for Halloween night (though they are super spooky as they glow bright red) but it is definitely something to think about for the 4th of July!

On Saturday, October 25th, all the foreigners got together with some of our Chinese friends and threw a classic Halloween party complete with candy, costumes, scary music, and games.

Last year, I was slightly disappointed in my inability to whip up a halfway decent costume (I was a Little White Lie... check it out!) so this year I had to redeem myself! Adam and I decided to combine our powers for this Halloween and I got to dress up in my first couple's costume EVER (it's the little things in life)!!

ZOMBIES!!!

Somehow, we managed to find face paint in China (we actually found a whole store selling Halloween costumes and decorations). I've had some experience when it comes to putting on zombie makeup so I was up for the challenge!!

When I was in high school in 2006 and 2007, I debuted and reprised the role of Judy in "Night of the Living Dead" at the Ghostlight Theatre. While I played one of seven humans in the cast, I was surrounded by actors who portrayed the role of the zombies and each of them were artists. It was my first real introduction to zombies and got me interested in the idea behind the walking undead.

2006 cast of "Night of the Living Dead"

2007 cast of "Night of the Living Dead"... how awkward... we didn't even change our clothes!!

I left the Ghostlight Theatre when I went away to school but I brought my love of the undead with me! In 2009, I helped start up and run Oswego's first Michael Jackson flash mob event, "Thrill the World." I started it along with some of my friends Jillian, Mandy, Johnny Mac, and Becca and the five of us advertised, raised money for charity, and taught the entire dance of "Thriller" for the worldwide event in October. Everyone dressed as zombies complete with awesome makeup and gallons of fake blood. It was a huge success! So much so, that we did it a second year in 2010.

2009--my first zombie makeup ever!            2010--perfected the burst blood vessels

2009 Thrill the World gang!
Johnny Mac, me, Becca, Mandy, and Jill

 Enough of the zombie back story. When Adam mentioned the idea of going as a zombie bride and groom I jumped on it like a fat kid on crumb cake. Now the face paint we found was awful and greasy but it was better than nothing! I put my zombie makeup skills to the test and made up both myself and Adam (I have never put zombie makeup on another person before). It didn't come out good enough to impress my zombie expert pals back home in the states but it was enough to terrify all of our Chinese friends that came to the party!!

 Michelle and Judah!!

The gang and Teil

Some other costumes that our friends dressed up as was a rubber chicken, the cookie faerie, a leprechaun, and two little girls came as a fabulous witch and Rapunzel!

After we admired each other's costumes and ate some delicious food and cookies (thanks to the cookie faerie, Karin!), it was time to get down and dirty and place some classic Halloween games!

The first was the doughnut game. Classic! I have not played this game, let alone thought of it since I was 9 years old in the 4th grade dressed up as Dorothy and my brother was the Scarecrow. Tie a string around a doughnut, hang it from a pole, try to eat it with no hands. It's funny when you have a bunch of expats who played this game when they were little try it. It's even funnier when you get a bunch of Chinese kids who barely ever eat doughnuts much less off a string without their hands! Priceless...

Up next? The mummy game!! We gave every group toilet paper and told them they had two minutes to wrap their partner into the best mummy they can... only to tell them that they then have to race. We really are a wicked bunch!

Last was a Halloween tradition that completes any party: bobbing for apples!! The girls were not too thrilled about the idea of putting their entire head in a bucket of water but in the end a few of them were brave enough to do it as well as all the foreigners. We even had two random strangers who were standing by and watching get apples!! Halloween has come to Hangzhou and it doesn't even know it!!

Champions!

All in all, it was quite a successful party--it introduced our Chinese friends to the insanity that is Halloween and it allowed the crazy expats to relive the insane Halloween parties that we went to in elementary school. Nothing better!!

Sadly, not all my students could come to the parties happening around the city and around campus (yay for not having big enough spaces to hold 200+ people), so I decided to bring Halloween to my students in class.

It's always fun introducing your students to holidays and traditions that you have grown up with. Something that is completely normal like going from door to door and demanding candy (basically begging) is seen as this strange and almost silly thing to them! 

Dressed all in black, donning my witch's hat, and grabbing my jack-o-lantern bucket, I surprised my students with a little Halloween party in class complete with candy (despite the university's insane rules of no food or drinks in the classrooms... including hard candy...). We watched the beginning of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to see the song "This is Halloween." I taught them part of the Thriller dance. I told them a scary story. I taught them some new Halloween words like "eerie" and "boo!". We played some of the most epic games of bingo I have ever played in my life. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and they took a lot of stalker photos of me while I taught.

I entertained them, acted like a fool, and we didn't have to talk about debate for once... I would say they enjoyed Halloween.

Now today is Halloween, the most blessed and happiest day of Amanda's year! I may not get to go to the annual epic Swartz's Halloween party but I have still managed to have a good Halloween season this year. Parties, scary movies with Adam, jack-o-lantern carving with students, and introducing customs like bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving make me so happy.

We spent all day putting up the decorations and turning our hallway into a little haunted house for our students that come trick or treating.

 

Halloween Night, All Hallow's Eve, is now here (huzzah!!) and we had our last Halloween celebration. At the Globechat village, we had a party with food, costumes, bobbing for apples, and a scary movie. After, Adam and I have bought bags and bags of candy for our students to come trick or treating in our apartment building... but before that, they have to get through our haunted hallway... MWUAHAHAH!!!!!!

QUITE the Halloween party!!

After a successful party for the students, it was time for TRICK OR TREATING!!

So, to my fellow Halloween lovers, I hope you have a spooky, wonderful, frightful Halloween night. For my fellow WriMos... NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow... 50,000 words in 30 days... Good luck... and I will see you on the other side.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Until Next Time,

Amanda