Written on 31/10/2006.

Well I really must update you on what has been happening in Korea over the last month. I promised myself tonight was the night and I would at least finish off blogging Andong. But it’s not going to happen!

Today has been exhausting! Very long, very hard work and I am way to tired to try and recall information from the depths of my weary mind. So instead here is more about today.

Being the 31st of October the school celebrated Halloween. Halloween is not normally celebrated in Korea, but the Hogwons (private English schools) celebrate it because they seem to think Halloween is American!!

They also seem to have slightly missed the point of Halloween with all the kids turning up in fancy dress but only a few of them as witches etc. Today just seemed to be about giving the kids as much ‘candy’ as possible.

For those of you not familiar with the origins of Halloween here is what I found on Wikipedia, click this link for more information.

Halloween originated as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Irelandand the British Isles, with Irish, Scots and other immigrants transporting versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century.

According to what can be reconstructed of the beliefs of the ancient Celts, the bright half of the year ended around November 1 or on a Moon-phase near that date, a day referred to in modern Gaelic as Samhain (“Sow-in” or alternatively “Sa-ven”, meaning: End of the Summer). After the adoption of the Roman calendar with its fixed months, the date began to be celebrated independently of the Moon’s phases.

As October 31st is the last day of the bright half of the year, the next day also meant the beginning of Winter, which the Celts often associated with human death, and with the slaughter of livestock to provide meat for the coming Winter. The Celts also believed that on October 31, the boundary separating the dead from the living became blurred. There is a rich and unusual myth system at work here; the spirit world, the residence of the “Sídhe,” as well as of the dead, was accessible through burial mounds. These mounds opened at two times during the year, Samhain and Beltane, making the beginning and end of Summer highly spiritually resonant.

The Celts’ survival during the cold harsh winters depended on the prophecies of their priests and priestesses (Druids), and the accurate prediction of how much food would be needed to sustain the people before the next harvest. They believed that the presence of spirits would aid in the ability to make predictions about the coming year.

The exact customs observed in each Celtic region differ, but they generally involved the lighting of bonfires and the reinforcement of boundaries, across which malicious spirits might be prevented from crossing and threatening the community.

Like most observances around this season, warmth and comfort were emphasized, indulgence was not. Stores of preserved food were needed to last through the winter, not for parties.

Onto today.

I arrived at the school wearing as much black make-up as possible – a fairly normal occurrence from me, and the one occasion when Kat couldn’t moan about it! (I am regretting it now as I sit in this PC room with massive black bags under my eyes!) All of the kindergarten kids were looking adorable in their costumes although I’m not sure the two Spiderman’s, the princess or the bunny rabbit had completely got the point of Halloween! My first lesson was supposed to be a normal storybook lesson but knowing that the kids were going to be wildly excited about the impending Halloween party I had already prepared plenty of Halloween themed colouring to keep them quiet for forty minutes!

The so-called party began with the kids being preened and positioned and made to pose for pictures (photos below). Each individual child, then each class, had their hair put in the right place, their costume and hands molded into the correct position before a perfectly posed photo was taken.

The Koreans spend ages carefully constructing the appearance of each photo, but the children don’t appear to be told to smile. So the result of their efforts is a photo of a perfectly posed but miserable looking child. I’d be pretty annoyed after being told I was having a party then spending ages waiting to have my photo taken, having my arm moved five times, a hat stuck on my head and my clothing needlessly adjusted!

It took until lunchtime for the photos to be taken. Then I was ushered out of the classroom as the kids sat down to their usual Korean lunch.

After lunch the party got into full swing. The kids were lined up in teams and told to jump down to a table and pick some ‘candy’ off a try with their teeth. I guess it was their version of apple bobbing! Some amusing moments ensued as the kids buried their faces in candy desperately trying to pick it up with their teeth whilst their frantic efforts spilt candy all over the floor. Every time the slightest bit was spilt the Korean teachers leapt forward with a brush to sweep it all up! Me, I just stood watching and taking photographs!

After the game it was time for me to dress as a witch – well don a hat and a broomstick. Each of the kids had to come to me say: “Trick or treat,” and I had to give them a handful of candy.

I’m still not sure if it was a compliment or an insult that I was the one chosen to dress as a witch especially as none of the Korean teachers had made the slightest effort.

I then got a half hour break – not long enough to go out and buy lunch – before it was time to prepare for the afternoon lessons. Having been told yesterday that there was no time for games Katrina had abandoned her ‘pin the fangs on Dracula’ idea. That was until they decided today that actually there was time fore games and why hadn’t we prepared anything?!!

We decided the easiest way to make the game would be to enlarge a picture of Dracula on the photocopier and colour him in. This worked, eventually! After what felt like hundreds of attempts at enlarging the picture, only for it to be in the wrong place on the photocopier and the page to emerge blank, we managed to get two sheets that we could stick together. The fangs proved another challenge. We needed something we could stick to paper without it ripping. Easy you may say, use bluetac – but Korea doesn’t have bluetac! Luckily the crayons we coloured it in with were greasy enough to stop celotope ripping the paper! Result – one pin the fangs on Dracula game for use with ages eight to 11.

Now the real work began. Once again I donned my witch costume but this time I didn’t feel quite so silly as Katrina was also dressed up – and had even borrowed my black eye shadow! But once again none of the Korean teachers had made any effort at all.

The children arrived in three shifts. 3:00pm, 4:00pm and 5:00pm. The first lot was the youngest and they were made to get up in front of everyone and recite the book, or sing the song they’d learnt in class. Then one child from each class was chosen to participate in our mega fun pin the fangs on Dracula game. The children seemed to enjoy the game, laughing merrily as they pinned the fangs on in some ridiculous places.

We then went round and gave each kid some candy before they sat down for a, kind of, indoor picnic, gorging themselves on sweets and biscuits brought from home. All this whilst my stomach was madly rumbling after not having time for lunch! Luckily some of the kids took pity on me offering the odd morsel to see me through the afternoon. And later the slice of Pizza from the older kids and Sushi from the teachers quelled my appetite.

The rest of the day followed pretty much the same pattern and for some reason was absolutely exhausting! By the time it came to leave all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and sleep. The last thing I needed was an argument with my boss – but that’s another story…!

* Posted by j150vsc on 10/11/2006.