Tina in China: Happy Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

This was such a good weekend! Sara and I had a Halloween party at our apartment on Friday night. We invited a ton of our foreign friends in nearby cities and a ton of our Chinese friends. We planned the party to start at 6:00 so we would have about an hour and a half after our classes ended to do some finishing touches on getting ready for it. We had so much left to do when the Chinese people started showing up an hour early. So we had to wing it on a lot of stuff towards the beginning and it was slightly stressful. But as soon as we started the bobbing for apples everything was smooth sailing after that. We invited a lot of the teachers and administrators in our school and almost everyone came (including the principle) and brought their kid. They all LOVED it. The kids and a lot of the adults were wearing masks as their costumes. Sara and I dressed up as Batgirl and Spidergirl. We felt like we were Disneyland characters because everyone was lined up to take pictures with us.

The bobbing for apples was hilarious. All of the little kids went for it all at the same time so there were like 15 kids all trying to get an apple from the same little bucket. Haha Everyone was cheering and it took a while for someone to finally get one, but eventually a little boy did! Then a lot of the kids got one after that. It was so funny and really fun.

When the bobbing for apples ended I was taking more pictures with people while Sara was putting cat whiskers on some of the girl teachers who translate our classes so that they would be dressed up. Everyone thought it was really exciting and were thoroughly entertained by it.

After that we did the cake walk for a really long time. They were hilarious with this game. They didn’t understand that it was simply a continuous walk from one number to the next as the music was playing. I would say go and start the music and seriously everyone would just hop from one number to the next and stop. We would have to yell, “Keep walking!” and push the circle around. This whole time it was only Sara and me with all of the foreigners, and so I called Julia and she came over and was able to help us with this game. One of us had to be in the middle of the circle directing them to keep walking and then the other two of us would be stopping the music and drawing numbers. It was so fun! After this game our other foreign friends here in Yangzhong showed up and we sent Kara and Mekena to get more stuff because so many people had showed up that we were running out of food and plates and stuff, and our foreign friends from other cities hadn’t even come yet! Haha This was around 6:30 when the party was actually supposed to be starting. J

The next game was pin the nose on the pumpkin. None of the Chinese people really knew what any of these games were and loved them all! It was so fun. Everyone was chanting and really into it. I also got to try Peking Duck for the first time! Everyone told me I had to try that before I came but it is just so expensive that I hadn’t yet. My Jhung brought it for us though, he is the best!!! It was so so so delicious.

The next activity was my favorite of all. We had all of the Chinese people go trick or treating down our hallway. Marie, Mekena, Kara, Julia, Sara and I (all of the foreigners at the party so far) each went in a separate room down our hall. We gave all of the Chinese people a bag, including the adults, and had them all go down the hall and knock on each door and say, “Trick or treat!” This was the best activity of the night. They all LOVED it! Including the adults. Our Principle was even really into it, it was so cute! All of the adults were just as into it as the kids were. It was seriously the best thing ever. None of them had ever been trick or treating before and they had the funnest time with it. I felt like we were giving all of them their childhood. Haha It was seriously so much fun.

The party died down with eating cake that the school bought for us and with a lot of the men and little boys carving pumpkins and lighting the candles inside of them. It was so much fun.

After this most of them went home and the FIRST party died down…

Then the second party showed up! J

We had planned all of this being just one party but the Chinese people showed up so early that they had already left by the time our foreign friends from other cities got into town! It actually worked out perfectly because there ended up being so many kids and people that it was so much easier to just have two separate parties. Our friends got in and got dressed into their costumes and ate fried rice that Sara and I made for them (knowing they would get in late and be hungry) while Sara and I ran around and set up a scavenger hunt that we had prepared. We were in our sparkly capes and masks running all around campus hiding the scavenger hunt pictures and we felt like real super heroes. Haha When we got back from hiding the stuff we all ate and mingled a while we bobbed for apples some. The we did the scavenger hunt. We split everyone into three teams and gave them the first clue. The pictures were set up down the hall, down the stairs, then led outside and on a path through campus. We thought it might be too easy but it was actually pretty hard and took them a good amount of time to do, but not too long. It was just hard enough to be really intense and fun. Haha The last clue was Sara and me, so we waited for the winning team on the track. We stood like super heroes with our fists on our hips and our capes and masks sparkling in the moonlight as the winning team came running down the track to get to us first. Haha It was so funny. The winning team all got snicker bars, which was worth fighting for. J

When we came back upstairs we took some more pictures and had a dance party. Then we did the superlatives for the most creative costume, the funniest costume, the best look-a-like, and the best costume. We had everyone put their votes in a box and then we counted them. I stood on a stool and very dramatically announced each winner. Heather, who was grapes, won the most creative costume award. Ben, who was a Chinese farmer, won the funniest costume. Justin Bieber swept two awards, being not only the best look-a-like, but the overall best costume. Haha It was no surprise. Everyone loves Justin Bieber.

After that we stayed up until 4:00 in the morning playing games like murder in the dark and ghost in the graveyard and sardines. It was so much fun! It was the latest all of us had stayed up in such a long time. Almost everyone stayed at our place, but some people went to the other girls apartments. Sara and I stayed up to clean a little bit and make sure everyone got home safely and had everything they needed. We also talked about how well we work together. J We really did plan so well and threw such a good party together. All of the preparation and work that went into it was SO worth it. We finally got to bed at 5:00.

The next morning we all slept in until around noon. I was the first to get up at noon and went in to the kitchen to skype Jay. Orange came over and we made dumplings for everyone. Orange is the best. She helped us so much with everything. All we did on Saturday really was eat dumplings then went to the silk market in our city. Then we came home and watched The Ghost and Mr. Chicken which was hilarious. We got into bed at 9:00 but it felt so so so much later than that. When we all climbed into bed someone said, “It’s only 9:00 guys.” Haha We were so exhausted. The next day we woke up really early to get to Nanjing on time for church.

After church on Sunday we went to this sandwich place near the hotel that church is at. There are always SO many foreigners there because it is really close to the university. I got to talk to this guy about the church which was SO fun because I hadn’t gotten to do that in such a long time. He is from Washington and asked me if we were a tour group. I told him that we all live in China but came to Nanjing for church that day. He asked me what church and I said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that anyone holding a foreign passport was welcome to come. When I told him that he was always welcome if he ever wanted to come he said, “I know that” and went on to tell me how he knew some people that went to BYU. I told him that I had a brother in law that lived in Washington for two years and he said that there are lots of Mormon boys that go live there for two years. And he told me how he had seen a temple there and stuff. Basically it was all just so weird that I could talk to someone from America again and at the same time talk to someone that knows about the church.

Today I taught my kids a Halloween lesson and they were so so so adorable. I had them color masks and then come to the front of the class and go “trick-or-treating” to me. They are SO CUTE I can’t stand it sometimes. I just want to hug them and hug them they are so cute.

This Halloween was SO much fun. I was thinking about why I loved Halloween so much this year and how it was so much fun and I realized it was because nobody knows anything about Halloween except for us. So we were totally setting the mood of Halloween all by ourselves this year. So of course we left out all of the gross and perverted stuff that Halloween is becoming and made it a super fun and exciting holiday. It was the best Halloween I have ever had.

Sara and I throw really good parties. J