Halloween in Korea

The Halloween weekend began with Halloween day with the kids on Friday. The teachers had spent all week decorating all out for the big day just to get the kids excited and also because they said that they thought it was important to us English teachers as well! Friday morning all the kids came parading in their cute little costumes. There aren’t very many places to get costumes so the kids all came in your good ol’ Halloween characters such as witches (or “weetche” as they would say), wizards (or “magic man”), and princesses. Either way- all adorable! I ended up being a generic black cat made out of some leftover felt we had… boring I know but I was lacking creativity at the time. We spent the day playing games, making trick-or-treat bags, and doing a haunted house. We set up a little station in a classroom so all the kids could come in to “trick-or-treat”. Before we started handing out candy the Korean teachers suggested we not give them TOO much candy because the parents don’t like them eating all junk food. All I could think of is how these Korean parents would die if they ever saw my trick or treat bag when I was little which was basically a pillow case filled with about 10 pounds of all the delicious and teeth rotting chocolates and candy you could think of. And there I was passing out candies made out of real fruit juice and rice candies… I felt sorry for the little suckers knowing what they were missing! The day was exhausting but it was a fun day for me and the kids. For a few hours it was nice to be celebrating a little piece of something I was actually familiar with.
Sophia (Chinese Girl) and Jackie (Spider Man) having fun playing my mummy wrapping relay game!

One of my students, Ashley, after trick or treating with me.

One of my favorite students from Joshua Teacher's class dressed as a bulky Spider Man. He claims he was hitting the gym a lot before the big day.

All the english kindergarten kids dancing to "Shake Shake".

Rebecca, Karla, Joshua, Me, Kim, and Lena on Halloween Day at school.

Saturday night a few friends and I celebrated Halloween in Itaewon. The streets of Itaewon were craaaazy! It made me feel embarrassed of my lack of creativity in my own costume. We went and saw a costume contest which came down to Mario Kart who was literally throwing out old banana peels or Quasimodo. Quasimodo ended up winning the grand prize of 500,000 won. The night was fun as usual but still made me miss my Halloween holidays back in college!

The weather has automatically turned ICE COLD…ok so maybe I am being a little dramatic. But it is very cold now! One day it was t-shirt and jeans weather, the next I want to whip out my parka and ugg boots! The apartment has been a little miserable because the heated floors in my apartment won’t seem to heat up as much as they should. (God do I miss blowing HOT air!) The weather is also slowly turning me into a little hermit. I don’t even have the motivation right now to get groceries. I came from Indiana and have experienced Minnesota winter so you would think I would have developed a shell for this weather, but it never fails I become into a big baby the moment the temp drops to below 50 degrees.

I am missing home more and more everyday… especially as all these holidays creep up. First it is Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then will come Christmas. I have been surprisingly stronger than I thought it would be but more and more I find myself wishing I was just home at times. The feeling comes and goes, but I always have to remember that the things I have waiting back at home for me aren’t going anywhere.

Love and miss you all!