Halloween

I tell you what, we had to put some EFFORT into this Halloween. First of all, I brought up the idea that we could potentially do something special for the kids here for Halloween with the apartment association head which jump-started a trick-or-treating plan. Then, we drove all over Seoul looking for pumpkins and finally, after a few days of casual searching, found a tiny store that sold them. It was NOT easy--no pumpkin patches here, people. Last year, when I was in Pusan for a few days in November, I remember seeing trucks piled with pumpkins for sale, but nothing this year. Good thing we were determined. Carving this sucker was not easy, either. It had a lot more 'hills and valleys' than your average American pumpkin and was not as tall. But, after Oliver and Ronan told the pumpkin they loved it, we carved it into a 'scary, happy face.'

Below, the pumpkin looks out on the cold, rainy day. The organizer of the trick-or-treating called to say that, due to the heavy rain, we might move trick-or-treating to Sunday. I was like, you can't MOVE Halloween to ANOTHER day. But, I lost the good fight and other moms decided to try again on Sunday. The kids were a bit bummed. Plus, we had invited a friend to come over and join the festivities. We still had some things planned at home, though, so it was not all lost.

We made candy apples. This was some hard-core DIY-ing. I had to go the underground markets in Namdaemun, buy peanuts and caramels, and, luckily, found someone on the street selling a little manual veggie/nut crushing thingie. Snapped that one up as I had envisioned myself with a mortar and pestle.

Below, the nut-crushing thingie that saved me hours of 'fun.'

The kids helped unwrap each caramel and we melted them with a little milk in the microwave for two minutes. Stirred the melted hot caramel quickly and then rolled the apples into which we had stuck chopsticks (couldn't find popsicle sticks) in the caramel quickly (we learned real soon this had to be done fast or the caramel would semi-solidify and make coating in caramel near impossible) and then rolled the caramelled apples in the nuts.

The results weren't pretty, but, man, they tasted awesome.

After decorating with some "Happy Halloween" Balloons we found at Emart, the kids watched Goosebumps episodes on YouTube while waiting for their friend to arrive. They were actually really good sports about the trick-or-treating cancellation, although I know they were bummed.

After dinner, the kids dressed in costume and we did a little mock trick-or-treating inside. Each adult hid in a room and jumped out to surprise the kids when the kids knocked on the door. It was a descent substitute for the real thing.

The kids sat down to sort their stashes before diving into some popcorn and candied applies while watching our scary movie selection, "Monster House." The kids' friend discovered that popcorn would stick on the outside of the candied apple and that the taste was not bad as well.

Halloween 2

Trick-or-treating took place on Sunday evening--a cool day without rain. The kids at first were a little shy about their costumes: Ronan as Spiderman, Oliver as Thomas, and Dahin as Sandra Park from the girl group 2NE1. People signed up to participate in trick-or-treating and we only went to the participating homes for treats. The mom who was in charge of organizing it all felt bad for the postponement of the event (like she could control the weather or the other moms' insistence that we move Halloween to Sunday), and bought some snacks and a cake for a little party to take place after the trick-or-treating in the library. I helped decorate by putting up our window decorations, adding some balloons, putting our cd in the little boom box, and putting our pumpkin by the library door. The kids and parents really liked the jack-o-lantern. They said it made it feel like a 'real' Halloween.

Then, we were off!

We even trick-or-treated at our own home.

Some of the parents really had fun with it. This mom dressed as a freaky witch. It was really a lot of fun.

The party, as you can see from the photos above, was a smash. The costumes were great and, surprisingly, there were only a few appearances of the Korean default costume: the hanbok (when you have nothing else, you always have the hanbok). There were horses, princesses, vampires, a PETA kid with a 'meat is murder' sign, bunny-ballerinas, cowboys, and parrots, among others. All the kids had a great time and I think the parents had fun, too.

Then, it was back home for some candy sorting and a re-run of 'Monster House.' Until next year...

Dahin's talent show

Before we get to halloween and fall colors, here are some shots from the 2nd grade talent show. kids did an awesome job. they sang a song i taught them--'this land is your land'. Dahin introduced the idea of doing a dance with it and came up with some of the moves. I think we have a future as an arranger and choreographer! Of course, the teacher really put it all together and did a great job planning it.

i was wrangled into arranging the ocarina performance for dahin and her friends--the day before the performance. eek. they did a great job despite the short rehearsal time, mic feedback and nerves. they did it!

like any good talent show, you have your fair share of scantily clad little girls and taekwondo boys. i felt for the boy holding the board--i think his fingers got a swift kick (ouch).

"I roamed and rambled, and followed my footsteps....

Oer the sparkling sands of, her diamond deserts...

and all around me, a voice was saying...

This land was made for you and me!"

Dinner with family

can't write much because I felt on campus--yes, in full view of students--which meant a trip to the e.r. with my graduate-student assistant, an xray (no break, thank goodness), left hand and arm swollen twice the size of the right and one-handed typing. supposedly will get better in a week. waiting. i hate pain. mostly, i hate those shoes--the ones i bought the day before about which jack asked, 'are you sure you can walk in these?' heels are not my friend.

anyway, we gathered at a seafood buffet for a goodbye dinner for jennie and her parents. the cousins all had a great time together as did the grownups. we spent a while there and took lots of pics.

jennie and dahin engaged in one of their 'deep' conversations.

a really great photo of halmoni.

komo, komobu, and jennie

komobu sits the kids down and talks to them all before giving them some 'yongdon'--kind of an allowance for being a cute kid.

ronan, not surprisingly, was the toughest to shoot. we got a couple of ok ones in the mix. he's a tough one to wrangleronan demonstrates 'safety first.' ya'll are gonna think 'hey, wait a minute,' especially if you sent me sanitizer over the past few months. but, i swear, sanitizer has only appeared since mid-august and now these sanitizer stations are at all public places. many concert venues wont let you enter without first cleaning your hands at the entrance with sanitizer. it's all thanks to the swine flu hysteria. btw dahin's school is closed this week due to over 50% of kids in her class coming down with the bug.

Will see jennie and all next year we hope. coming up, the sung kids do halloween...