Halloween in China

It began a week early with my agreement to visit a middle school private tutoring class on a Friday night.  I met the teacher, John, and we walked over to the class of 7 eighth graders.  Fortunately the other BYU China teachers have shared their Halloween ppts. And film clips.  So I dressed up like a witch, complete with hat, cape, fingernails, and horrid nose.  The kids loved it; everyone had to have their picture taken with me.
I showed them everything I know about Halloween, sang a song, showed them scary film clips.  Then we played Bingo.  They thought it was great fun.
So I went through the same scenario all 9 classes, during the week before Halloween.  I scared a few of them with my costume and hairy spider, and isn't that the point of Halloween anyway?  Scaring people and saying, "Gotcha!"
Thursday night we were in charge of English Corner, which is a social gathering for anyone who wants to practice their English.  We showed them our video stuff, then played Bingo and had a cakewalk.  I printed Halloween symbols on some orange card stock, cut them out, had them laminated, and Tim taped them to the floor.  Then we played Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and made them walk the circle.  I had made chocolate cupcakes (from scratch), so each winner got one.  They were a big hit.  When we ran out of those, we gave away our stockpile of "moon cakes " which are a holiday specialty around here. But we weren't sad to see them go.  We also made little ghosts out of lollipops and Kleenex.  There were about 60 students, and they all had a great time.  Some even found a few small pumpkins to carve, complete with tealights.

By the time Halloween Saturday rolled around, it was raining and we were partied out.  When the rain stopped later in the afternoon Tim was hankering for a McDonalds dinner--fish fillets and fries.  Then he had a banana split at Dairy Queen. Yes I had a chocolate almond Blizzard (they threw in some raisins).  Then we found an English movie in 3-D--"Antman". We liked it, even though it cost $15 a ticket.  We picked up a few items from Walmart and found a bus to home.

By the way, both Walmart and the grocery store had a few costumes, masks, hats, and other Halloween paraphernalia for sale, even though they don't really understand what it's all about.  Do we?  We just like to dress up, decorate, and eat candy.  Anyway it was fun to see pix of our grandkids all decked out in their Halloween duds. Happy Halloween!  Onto Thanksgiving and Christmas, hopefully.

First Pedicure

Y'all know how much I enjoy pedicures.  Some things I'm willing to do myself. My toes is not one of them.  So the university hosted a luncheon for all the foreign teachers one afternoon.  I met Valerie, a lovely French-Vietnamese lady who taught at Jiatong last year.  She is currently working on a Masters Degree about some Chinese author, and lives nearby with Michael.  He is my English writing mentor, from Boulder, Colorado--One of those retired single American men who finds a "Chinese" girlfriend/sweetie.

Anyway, I mentioned to Valerie that I needed a pedicure and that I was considering riding a bus to the international mall in hopes of a successful experience.  She promptly offered to make me an appointment right in our own neighborhood. Done deal!  Wednesday morning when I met her, she hedged about whether this place would remove or re-apply the product to my toes.  But off we went. She found a nail salon that removed my toenail polish for 10RMB ($1.60).  Then we went two doors away where they soaked my feet ( in tea?). They were pretty nervous about the bandage on my ankle, but I assured them it didn't hurt.  Then the fellow pulled out a sharp scalpel-like knife and promptly sliced off my toenails.  I held my breath, but there was no blood.  He just started at one corner of each toe, and sheared off the nail to the other corner!

Next I got a great foot massage, which was very welcome on my aching feet.  Then they brought a hot towel and washed up my toes.  Finally, they rubbed my feet with some oil to soften them up.  All for 35RMB (less than $6.00).  I could have gone back to the nail salon and had them paint my toes (with my product, or theirs) but I elected to go home and make sure my nails weren't jagged.  They weren't, so I painted my own toes.  But next time I'm going back to the nail salon to finish the job!  It wasn't the mall spa, but it was in the neighborhood, and the price was right!

A Walk in the Park

We decided to explore the lovely park that is right across the street from Jiatong University.  There were lovely flowers, a lake with little boats, and lots of walking paths.  We also discovered a ping pong court where a couple of guys challenged Tim to a game.  After he warmed up, he gave them his best effort, and saved face for the Americans in table tennis.

We found some ice cream and Carmel corn.  Then we came across the carnival rides.  I was willing to try the Ferris wheel, but Tim acted like a kid on this large swing that not only rotated around, but also upside down. That's how you get your jollies in China for 10 yuan, or $1.50!  We ended the day with a yummy dinner at Peter's Tex-Mex Grill with burritos, enchiladas, and chocolate. Chip pie and brownie Sundae for dessert! Yum!