Chinese Halloween

As some of you may know, my experience living in China this time is quite different from my experience 4 years ago. However, I am trying to keep a positive attitude and break out of my shell by doing new things and meeting new people, which is why I decided to accept my student's invitation to attend a Halloween party on campus this past Friday. Halloween is not normally a holiday kept in Asia, but the Chinese are slowly picking it up and adding it to their list of celebrations. Of course, they do it a bit differently than we do in the west.

First of all, I found NO chocolate candy anywhere. I guess the females here are worried about keeping their girlish figures (they will not accept chocolate prizes when we play games in class)...which is funny since they are mostly size 0. Instead, the "candy" is milk or vegetable flavored. (Hey, that's similar to the ice cream made of red beans and the cookies made of seaweed! Although I must admit I enjoyed the cookies made of seaweed.) But I am still happy they had some candy and that I got to try it!

The costumes are also pretty limited, although I can't blame this on the choice of the party-goers. I think many would like to have dressed up as something other than a cat or rabbit, but Halloween apparel is not readily available here except for mouse and bunny ears sold on Nanjing Road and the Bund during National Day in October. And who am I to talk, I came dressed as an American English teacher. So, any of you entrepreneurs out there, maybe you could strike it big by opening a costume shop in Shanghai. Just an idea.

The Chinese are a little less socially mature compared to Americans, so college students here enjoy playing games we maybe would see at junior high parties. Which I actually think is just fine as children grow up too fast in the US. Who doesn't love bobbing for apples, tying balloons around your ankles and racing around trying to pop others' while keeping yours intact, and forming groups based on a number called out by an emcee and being forced to do some kind of "punishment" if you can't find a group? Honestly though, I am a sucker for games and had a blast! I knew only one person when I arrived at the party but by the end of the evening had made several new friends from around the globe.

Overall it was a great night!