Last Friday there was a Halloween Party at one of my elementary schools. A bit early, yeah? They know Halloween falls on the 31st but I wasn't sure why they decided to have it then (I forgot to ask). The day before they had carved pumpkins and set them out on display in the hallway for their parents to see because that day was Parent-Teacher interviews. Callie came down the day before to help me teach and the teachers told me the week earlier that there would be Halloween activities planned, so we decided to dress up in Halloween costumes. I was told that the kids would also be wearing costumes but when we got to the school we found out that we were the only ones dressed up! Everyone else was wearing their normal clothes. Oh well, how's that for grassroots internationalization? I went as a toilet paper mummy and Callie went as a purple-striped pirate. I bought six rolls of bandages from the 100 Yen store, wore white clothes and wrapped them all over me, and then stuffed myself with toilet paper. Not sure how kowai (scary) I was but I thought I looked like a pretty good mummy. It turned out not to be the best costume because once we got to the school the kids got really excited at seeing us and went nuts! They kept trying to fight me and then started picking apart my costume! There was toilet paper strewn all over the hallways as they would grab fistfuls at a time. Eventually, after trying to fend them off and pretending to eat them, most of the toilet paper was gone and I ended up looking more like a guy wrapped up in bandages and less like mummy. I learned my lesson on wearing costumes in elementary schools: If its not stuck to you, the kids will try to take it. Callie learned that too when they kept trying to steal her sword and pirate hat. I think next time I'll buy 50 rolls of bandages from the 100 Yen store and avoid toilet paper altogether. Check out Callie's blog for a more pictures of the Halloween day with the kiddies.