Halloween is always an interesting time, and it was no less so down the rabbit hole here. In normal fashion, it's the time when the inner child in all of us comes out to play. As for me, I duly donned my 4,800 Won mummy mask, with white(ish) pants, a torn white dress shirt to duplicate having been half-petrified for thousands of years, and one of my red "boy, what a buy THOSE turned out to be!" Adidas sleeveless shirts for a sort of bloody (but not really,) look. And there I was, "Mummy Teacher." The kids loved it, I chased a few of them around just for the effect, and they shrieked and giggled insanely. The other "foreign" teachers, (interesting they should choose such a term, in light of the fact that outside Korea, Korean would be considered the foreign language, but what of that?) were Harry Potter and an alien--an Alien alien, complete with resident alien card, I guess you'd say. Where are Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones when you need them?! I admire Ed's sense of humor, if not his incessant fussing over financial matters I know *I* wouldn't bother airing.
As for the Korean teachers, one was a......damn, I wish I knew, except to say that she seemed to be letting her inner slut out for some air. In any event, Julie, one of the others, was dressed as a maid. Not any kind of sexy, French maid thing, just a maid. Hmm. She's quiet, docile, and always did strike me as needing a life. Prosecution rests.
And then there was Katie; Katie of the booming classroom voice, and notably mostly-business demeanor. She was a Samurai Warrior, complete with Kabuki-esque make-up and a sheathed metal sword, that was about four feet long, and which she, on occasion, used to bap kids on the head during assembly if they got out of line. (In the sheath, of course; Korean parents, even, probably take a dim view of bloodshed initiated by a teacher.) That's what I like, a woman whose inner child is screaming "fu*k with me, I dare ya!" There was probably something to this effect in the prologue of "Fatal Attraction." I mentioned to Ed that I was looking at her and having flashes of John Belushi's "Samurai Deli" bit from Saturday Night Live, back when it was good. And teachers......don't try this trick in America, you probably wouldn't get past the metal detectors. Of course, your school probably isn't situated above a bar, either. But that's another story.
The hot costume among the kids was the "Scream" mask, with a black cape. Among the girls, of course, there were scores of witches, princesses, and....nothing really noteworthy, with the possible exception of one little princess whose mommy had done her up with the full "flaming harlot" face make-up from the Tammy Fae Bakker collection. Jon Benet Ramsey, anyone? This same little girl was decked out in a little ball-gown looking thing, that probably set her parents back a good $200 or so, so elaborate was it. Come to think, *she* should have been the one scaring me. It would have been nice to see some of the Korean television characters, or maybe something more in the traditional Korean vein, but such was not the case. Imitation. I know it's not the first time I've mentioned the concept, it's just so damn SAD when it reaches the level of kid's Halloween costumes. I know how school needs to be, but outside of that, uniformity in childhood is just at odds with the whole CONCEPT of childhood. Or maybe that's just me. I'll stop now.