Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was my Halloween party for my Saturday English School. It was a roaring success. I invited all the Izumo area ALTs to the party so my students would have an opportunity to talk to foreigners who aren't me. My goal was to make it simulate a normal Halloween Party for older people in America, rather than the goofy children's party most Halloween parties are in Japan. These kids are 14 and 15 years old, I figured they were beyond learning Halloween vocabulary and bobbing for apples.

So anyways, I got to the classroom at 9:20 and then Miymi and I went out to buy some snacks. We went to the Good Day (grocery store chain) with the good import items. I love this Good Day because it is the one with Mexican food (flour tortillas and taco mix! Woo!) and imported potato chips. So we picked up some Texas Barbecue Ruffles and Nacho Cheese Doritos for the party. I also got a coke. Then we headed back to do some decorating.

Last Saturday, my students made decorations for the party. They were really creative and nice looking. So I kinda pointed where things should go and made a mad dash for the bathroom. The ALTs (guests of honor) were due in 10 minutes and I had to get ready! You see, for the first time in my life, I made a Halloween costume. It was kinda crappy...but I made it. I went to the party as Sailor Moon! Heh.

Around 10:00, everyone showed up. There were 8 ALTs in all! AND, all but 2 came dressed in Halloween costumes!! It was so nice of them. For the party, everyone just mingled, ate snacks, and spoke English to the students. It was really cool. Jason brought a few Halloween party games so we did those for a little bit. The students really seemed to enjoy it and the ALTs said they enjoyed it. So I feel the party was an overall success. I do not have any pictures because I forgot the camera so...sorry. I know some people had cameras and I am sure they will send me some pictures, but at the moment I don't have any.

After the party we hung around the apartment and at 6:00 we went to a Taiko concert. Taiko is a type of drum in Japan and the concert was awesome. It was so interesting to hear the concert. It's a music style that is very traditional to Japan and parts of the concert even had some costumes and stuff. Ang was in one of the groups and she did very well. I didn't know she was performing so it was a nice surprise to see her.

We didn't actually stay for the whole concert because the room was very hot and giving me a headache. I was a little disappointed to leave early but it was probably for the best. I hope to attend another concert in the future. Maybe this time I will take a camera and some pictures!

On another note. I should give the results of the tape concert, yes? The results are in and the votes are tallied and!

...

You all lose! No one sent me a tape. It's ok, I understand. I just listen to my MP3 player now. But I had a couple people ask me about it so I thought I would post an update about it!

Happy Halloween!