Mark went out for a real costume. I prefer to find a few things around the house and improvise at the last minute.
The pumpkins turned out OK, though. One of the highlights was a guy admiring the Gene Simmons pumpkin. He said, "Great pumpkin. Weren't you the guys that did the Yankees logo pumpkin last year?" Noah was so happy that someone remembered his pumpkin for a whole year!
Halloween. The Chinese families get the idea that you get some kind of strange thing to wear and go around and get free candy. The little girls tend to be tricked out in princess outfits. The more Chinese the family the odder it gets--like the little child who had no costume but carried his candy in a mask. Or the moms that force their obviously frightened children up to strangely dressed grownups (it's not scarey enough that we're white--now we're wearing weird hats!) Or the moms that use their children as a diversion to stuff their own pockets with tons of candy while we're telling the tykes, "Just one." Definitely not American--but it is just enough American that we have a great time! Hope yours was just as fun!
...in order to see some of this....
I wish I were young and irresponsible...that I didn't care about job security or savings and retirement and college funds or the effect of moving on my children. What are we doing here? This place is not for us. It's just too big, too busy, too crowded, too dirty--in short, all of the things that so many other people really love about being here. But not us.
