Halloween.....already?

November 02, 2007

I was a deprived child.
It’s true,
Sure my parents gave me food, shelter and clothes to put on my back. Yeah, they made sure I was raised with a sense of responsibility for my own actions and an awareness of the people around me and how we all affect each other in some way, shape or form. Yes, they showed me that two people could survive three kids, two big moves, one amazing dog and a thirty-plus year marriage and still be in love with each other. And ok, they loved me more then I will ever know or possibly be able to understand. BUT.
As a child, I was never allowed to go trick or treating.
I know. I know. You have to pass through hell fire to get a drivers license these days, but they’ll let anyone have a kid. It’s sad. So sad. They told me they were concerned for my safety. Whatever. Give me a freakin break.
Miraculously, I survived this grave injustice and have somehow managed to become the intelligent, rational, judicious, stunning individual you all know and love.
Thank you, thank you.
When I was finally permitted to participate in this rite of passage, it was almost too late, and I barley got to squeeze in a couple years of solid sugar excess before I was forced against my will to cave into the cool factor that told me if you were older then 14, you shouldn’t be doing this. By the time I hit high school, it had slowly transformed into an excuse for girls to dress like prostitutes under the guise of it being a “costume”, and a pretext for everyone to just get trashed. Halloween parties during university were a little more interesting as theatre students will often make it their personal mission to out-do each other in the costume department…..that and parties with theatre students often live up to the stereotypical hype. But in the past few years, Halloween has sort of faded into the background for me, a holiday to smile at, but nothing to really get excited about.
So I didn’t really think much of it as Halloween day dawned here in Korea. I made sure to grab a little extra candy to give out in case the kids made a big deal of it, but didn’t think much of it to be honest. I knew there were Halloween parties to be had, but couldn’t muster up enough interest to be bothered. And speaking of bothered let me tell you how my kids reacted when they asked me what we were going to do for Halloween and I told them nothing. They spazzed! One kid started to cry! They started yelling at me, demanding I give them candy! It was anarchy in Steph’s class, I was the worlds worst teacher at that moment. So I told them to sit down, be quiet, and to out their books away because we were going to do a grammar quiz. That did it. From that point on I could feel how it felt to be loathed by 14 people simultaneously. Whatever. I wasn’t giving into their demands; those lollipops could sit in my desk drawer.
But I thought about it and started to feel a little bit bad. I always felt so left out of the whole Halloween experience as a kid, my friends would compare costumes before and trade candy bars at school after, I never got to do that really. And these kids in Korea don’t get much. School, school, and more school, shortened holidays in the summer, Christmas here is nothing, a tenth of the holiday it is back in Canada. So in retrospect, a little temper tantrum over the disappointment of what they thought was a sure thing was understandable. After all, a few of the other teachers even dressed up that day, you know, the fun, cool teachers, unlike the lackluster, insipid English teacher they got stuck with. I resolved to d better with my last class, printed off a ghost story, and made a mental note to speed the grammar lesson along to leave time for a little spooky action at the end of class. Armed with lollipops, I made my way back to my classroom only to find this on my door….

And this on the other side☺. They had even decorated the board for me☺.

The candy was a hit, we played some games, but apparently the ghost story about a witch being burned alive and cursing a village was more amusing then scary. They were glad she dies you see, because she was ugly. And ugly people should not be tolerated, least of all when sucking the souls of young beautiful girls. I mean really.
I can’t believe Halloween is here….well, gone now.
Time flies☺.
In other news, Dave and I had a really nice date the other night. We were treated like royalty at this resteraunt we happnened upon. The manager waited on us himself, he spoke very good english and helped us with out selections; in other words he told us what we would enjoy and we nodded. Bean sprout soup and cheesy corn to start, followed by cider, a platter of fresh fruit and a plate of chicken wings mockingly labeled as "mild". My tastebuds will grow back any day now.