Last Day Before Halloween

Finally everything is prepared for Halloween tomorrow.

I will be Dracula. Which is a big relief since racist Halloween costumes are actually coming into style here. My understanding is that most of the teachers dress as Japanese Geisha's or Chinese women, where other teachers have been asked to dress up as Bruce Lee or even wear black face. As someone who would like to someday entertain the idea of going into politics, I can't do that, even if it, ironically, is intolerant of modern Korean culture. It's also just complete wrong that the most effort of your costume has gone into changing your race, it's not really funny or scary, it's just unethical. When I was told I could be Dracula -the costumes are provided- I sighed in relief and hope it would be an over-the-top Romanian Dracula. I'm usually pretty anything-goes, when in Rome, sort of up-for anything attitude, but this, uhh. If the choice is my comfort or adapting to new cultural expectations, I can step out of my comfort zone. This is gonna be my exception.

I am the happiest Dracula.

Here's a little clip of me going through the haunted house. It's going to be much much darker with a fog machine and some strobe lights. Intense.

If you're like me, then you're probably wondering why there is so much hype over Halloween in Korea. The answer is: there isn't really. South Korea doesn't celebrate Halloween, there is no Trick-Or-Treating or Halloween decorations and costumes being made widely available. It's a special thing that happens at English Schools. So part of attending an English School is getting access to this celebration, so there are high expectations. We've been told the parents can't join in any of the events or enter the Halloween House, surely there must be some excitement or curiosity since this is something they've kind of paid for. 

It's kind of like Chinese New Year's that  big a deal inSmaller cities in Canada, unless you are a mover and shaker in the city's Chinatown -then suddenly everybody turns to you.

It's kind of neat since I don't often get a chance to look in the mirror and recognize what is my culture. I guess Halloween is a celebration I get to show off here a bit. Even the school director asked the best way to do Trick-or-treating. We agreed the most authentic way would be having them knock on doors classroom to classroom. On second thought, we only had one teacher available for handling trick-or-treating, and she can't be expected to station herself at 6 different doors.

I am sincerely excited to see how everything goes tomorrow. I expect to be late on the blog post since we may be up late taking down everything we've only just put up. Andy Goldsworthy taught me art can be temporary.