Halloween Hurricane

Happy belated Halloween.

I will say it was nice to see the ol' Facebook timeline on Halloween (or whatever night the bars declare as Halloween) not smitten with dirty/sexy/naughty (insert job/animal/superhero/fictional character) and replaced with kids (either yours, friends or family members). There was a stretch of years in my life where I felt the creativity in Halloween was gone and it was just see who could show the most skin, but then kids saved the day (don't they always?)!

While Halloween is a noted holiday in the States, it's not here and neither is Thanksgiving.  The stores here are already full of Christmas "stuff" and I've already seen Christmas Trees in some windows.  However, CIC is an International School that follows the American school timeline and acknowledges days like Halloween.  We don't jump the gun to X-Mas like the rest of the city!  In fact, we had a regular old Halloween Hoedown this past Friday.  

Friday was orange and black day (students did not have to wear their uniforms, but could wear those particular colored clothes if their garment met handbook guidelines).  I figured that the middle school students would be wound tight and my hallway would be nuts, but that my classes would be the same old song and dance. 

Not so fast my friend.

These chickens were restless and I had no idea why.  No (more) sugar than usual at break and no party prior to my classes.  I guess it was in the air (or In the Air Tonight for you Phil Collins fans... [initiate air drumming] duh duh, duh duh, duh duh, duh duh da DUH). 

We (my students and I) navigated our way, with me only getting mad once, to lunch.  Lunch on this particular day was special as it was our "Halloween Picnic" put on by Student Council.  The kids got their lunches, free candy,  and listened to some tunes while the STUCO reps riled them up into a frenzy before the costume modeling.  

The costume modeling was done by six secondary faculty members (who were guilted into it), yours truly being one of them.  We had to don our costume, walk through the Comadore, model the costume, be judged via applause, and then return to the sanctity of our rooms to eat.

Not dirty, sexy, or naughty.  Just delicious. 

Four of our teachers went as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and were received to a warm applause.  Jon went as "Russell" from Up and I was a package of Harina Pan (props to Ms. Phelps for the stenciling and detail work).  

Up.  Jon, Rexin, and Randi in costume.  

The students got loud when the first saw my costume because Harina Pan is tough to find due to shortages.  They laughed even louder when I tried to navigate the narrow path through the cafeteria tables to the area where the judges were.  I struggled, but with pure gringo sweat and determination I made it.  

While I was "walking" down the runway "Don't Stop the Party" by Pitbull was playing. This walk was no party.

Jon and I were deemed the finalists (oh joy) by the student body because apparently the applause was so close.  I voted to give the win to Jon, but the STUCO reps said we had to have a dance off to determine the winner.  Nope. I did the vintage mascot bounce and handed out arepas while Jon cut some rugs to take the win.  

Trying to bribe my way to a win by handing out arepas.  Jon ran an honorable campaign & won with hot dance moves.  

Jon gave me one of his ice cream delights because he is a good guy and enjoys fun.  By the time the madness had concluded, we (the costumed teachers) did not have time to eat and had to bring our lunch to 4th block- bummer.  I had to eat while my newspaper kids worked.  

It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was sweaty and I got attacked by mosquitos due to my ill-fitting costume not allowing me to defend myself from their blood sucking fury.

The rest of the day was cake, but the Halloween Bazaar loomed.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Kellen, why do you have to work the bazaar, you're a high school teacher?" You are correct, however I am a junior class advisor and we need to raise money for this minor event that all juniors and seniors need to attend called PROM. We are raising money like crazy, but it's an uphill battle with the inflation climbing weekly. 

Anyway.  

Halloween Bazaar

I got to the Halloween Bazaar and didn't realize that this is actually a house of horrors.  I literally made if five paces into the auditorium and had to dodge two Avengers, spin around a zombie, and then use the left joystick (video game football reference) to jump back and evade a witch.  These little elementary kids were all over the place.  

I made my way to the Coke (Coca-Cola, easy guys this isn't some Breaking Bad story) station to help supervise.  My costume caused some chuckles and random parents to want to take pictures with their kids.  One very excited Japanese man had me take a picture with his no-more-than-three-year-old daughter.  She hugged me and said, "I love Harina Pan." Cute kid, but I was getting creeped out.  I have a personal bubble that is fortified and I was suffering a siege.  After breaking a sweat, I put the costume down and helped load Cokes and Ice.  

It wasn't until I was standing there not getting harassed did I notice some crazy stuff going on.  

1) Moms and dads were dressed up, and some rather questionably.  Some moms broke out some tights and tops that would have been common at the Sports Column (Iowa City) or Tony's (Cedar Falls) where the college freshmen roam. Bionic enhancements were scattered about in plain sight.  I felt uncomfortable and confused.  "Why? This is for the kids," I thought.  I asked a few colleagues and they just shook their head.  I digress.

2) I thought there was some rather lame nurse costumes (but at least these moms were more conservative at a school event) following their kids around the Bazaar.  Jon laughed at my comment.  "Dude, those are nurses, the kid's nurse... like nanny's, not hospital types." My ears screeched at this revelation. Wah, wah, WHAT! Yep, some families bring their nanny/nurse with them so they can socialize instead of watch their kid.  I was flabbergasted.  I could not relate, nor imagine doing that, but there it was right before my eyes.

3) A bell signals the trick or treating to begin in the Junior Kindergarten building and it reminded me of those jailbreak movies.  The guards sound the bell or alarm as one inmate makes a run for it not knowing that this is part of the plan and the rest of the inmates are waiting to rage.  Imagine that caliber of raging, but from elementary kids.  Yeah, it was Chaos City.  Luckily, once they went to the other building we sold our last few Cokes and got to tear down the station.  

4) Most of the costumes worn by these students are custom made or bought in the States.  Many parents will fly to Miami and pick up the costume for their kids to wear.  Some spend more money and have the costumes custom made with tailors in country or abroad.  I saw a Thor and Captain America that were movie quality.  Unfortunately, there were no Chewbacca masks.  

I WANT TO GET MY MAKE UP AND HAIR DONE.  NOW!

5) This Bazaar is apparently a serious deal.  One of my friends (I can't remember who's class) had five girls that tried to get out at noon to go to get their hair and makeup done before the Bazaar.  They were going to go with the "Dia de los Muertos" (see right) look.  The elementary principal caught wind of this and told them they could not get out early for that reason.  Cue the one hour and change hissy fit.  I guess these girls just lost it and had a category one meltdown.  Sobbing, laying on the floor, flailing of limbs and craziness so intense that their peers told them it was enough.  No one broke and the students did not get to leave.  They did however show up an hour late to the Bazaar and travel in a wolf pack.  Hooray for fun!

 That night a bunch of us went over to Jon and Randi's for some food and beverages before calling it a night.  It was a long week and people were gassed.

Saturday we went to another Magallenes game. It was a good time except Carlos Zambrano's longer start did not lead to a win.  My favorite player, Lew Ford, had a rough day, but the following day when the Magallenes won handily he had a bomb.  However, the team gave out free plastic Magallenes beer mugs (which I am currently drinking water from), so all was not lost. 

My AD said that we are bad luck.  He may be right if they keep winning like that when we don't go to the games.  

Side note: when we were driving into the game I saw a few people with a bucket selling something out of it.  I told Morris to slow down and lets ask if it's beer.  No one believed me and wanted to ask.  Finally, after the second person we saw, we asked.  It was beer.  HA. As soon as we parked the car, we stopped and got a round for 15BsF a bottle (take 15 and divide it by the current black market rate of 59 and that will tell you how much each beer was).

I cannot believe that this is real.  Does my face convey that?

Still waiting for all of the beers to get poured.  Cool bucket though.  

After the game we went to a nearby bar to hangout for a bit longer before heading back.  It was a cool place, but kind of classy.  My friends were nervous that they would not let us use our Magallenes plastic beer mugs in there.  I scoffed at the notion.  Yes we would and yes we did.

Ryan arguing that Josh McCown is a legit back up. Ravens fan Jon does not agree. 

That about wraps up the happenings down here.  Twenty-three days until you folks up north get to celebrate Turkey Day.  We'll have a pseudo-Thanksgiving here, but without the availability of your Hyvee/Whole Foods, we'll have to make due.  I'm guessing no cranberries (sad face, kidding.  Do people really eat that?)

In other news, a group of us just got tickets to Rio de Janiero and are hoping/praying/doing the ticket dance that we get tickets for 3-4 World Cup games when they go on sale next week.  Regardless, there will be seven Americans in jerseys down there reppin' the stars and stripes.  YANKS!

If you know a guy, that knows a guy, that works for FIFA, give him my info.  I heard they can be swayed.

Have your FIFA guy call me on this phone.  Pay Phones are still real.  

That's all she wrote.  Sorry not as reflective as last week, but it's been a pretty light week.  

I posted a short video of what driving is like down here on my Facebook page if you feel inclined to watch it.  It's pretty funny.

Enjoy the rest of the week! Teachers it's almost time to start the Christmas Break countdown.  Synchronize watches!

Until next time,

KRS