Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween. It's, by far, my favorite holiday of the year. However, this year, I've experienced something I never thought I would. I'm happy the day has been greeted, masticate, and put down in my belly of joy for a long 11 months of juicy digestion. I gorged on the wickedness and I am now sick. I did the one horrible thing that one can do to Halloween. I poisoned myself on it's evil merrymaking. I beat the poor beast of a holiday into submission. I overdosed on the spooks.

Part of the reason I'm tired of all the devilishness, is because I spent around three weeks, with 350 students split into a handful of classes, discussing the merits of this sinfully dark festivity. I carved and carved little green pumpkins. I shoved the words "trick or treat", along with a handful of chocolates, down my little darlings' throats. And I told the story of the monstrous murderer with a hook for a hand so many times to audiences without the capacity to understand the English, that it no longer gives me the involuntary goose flesh that it would any other rational human being. And, I am happy to report this entry in "Big in Japan" is the final chapter to the horror of this year's holiday.

The one especially enjoyable event of Halloween this year was the Halloween Party I hosted at my little abode up on the hill, surrounded by rice fields. Fifteen of my high school girls came over one Saturday afternoon to partake in bobbing for apples, eating donuts off of string, watching scary movies, and gulpping down as much sugar as possible, just like American kids do after going trick-or-treating.


This is a photo of myself, Lori and Sierra in my kitchen. Lori and Sierra came over from Kamigoto to help with the party. Par Sierra's wonderful suggestion, we dressed as the Three Blind Mice and got quite a lot of giggles once the party guests started arriving.

Yui, Me, and Natsumi. Yui came dressed as a "black cat" and Nastumi had the Hello Kitty bow and whiskers to match. Most of the students were too shy to wear costumes, but they had a little flare here and there.

Here, the girls try to fish out cherries from the bottom of their sodas without using their hands. Nastumi was the winner. If you look closely, you can see her displaying her umeboshi between clenched teeth.

Everyone brought over some sweet treats for the celebration. I baked a pumpkin pie, and put out the candy corn my mom sent along with the plastic bats and the glow-in-the-dark skeletons. The end of October was also eggplant and sweet potato season, so the Halloween feast was heavy on the starch and delectable, yet difficult to cook, vegetable.

Lori gallantly volunteered to become the "mummy" for the Mummy Race team in the kitchen. Aki and Asuka wrapped the toilet paper around her, but the girls soon found that it would be easier if she spun around and the paper stayed stationary. We had some dizzy mummies by the end of their two minutes.

We ended the night by taking our group photo and doing a round of "bonzai, bonzai, bonzai!" And, although I'm thoroughly through with Halloween this year, now that I'm posting these pictures on the web, I'm also a little bit nostalgic for that night. I consider my Halloween Party quite an accomplishment. Hmm.... maybe I should start planning for next year.

(A HUGE shout out to Sierra and Lori! I couldn't have done it without them!)