Halloween Party

It certainly has been awhile since my last post, but no need to worry. I have been doing very well and actually staying fairly busy. Most of last week was occupied planning and preparing for a Halloween Party. The party was the brainchild of Bryan, another teacher here who is from Bartlesville, OK. With the help of a few students from the English club, we amassed huge amounts of candy, all the masks which the supermarket sold, more than a handful of prizes, and plenty of decorations. None of us had any experience with parties in China, and apparently all Chinese 'parties' here are just talent shows. We expected attendance anywhere between 50 and 5,000. Legitimately. Well, all in all the party was a success and it felt nice to use some of our comfortable salary to give back to the students. Many things were also learned for future parties. The candy was gone from the table in less than a minute (and there were thousands of pieces), so a more just distribution system is certainly needed. Despite a truly wonderful playlist, none of the students danced at all, save the group dances. But the Macarena, Chicken Dance, and Cupid Shuffle can only be done so many times. The party was advertised to start at 6:30...but the gym was pretty well packed by 5:45, which hurt some of our set-up and eliminated a few games from being set-up at all. Nonetheless, I had a great time at the party and think that most of the students did as well, and if nothing else, the four of us (Bryan, Dave, Danthemanstan, and I) are now even more famous and recognizable on campus. Of course, that isn't something I needed, but being popular and adored hasn't gotten old yet. The pictures included are from the party.