Halloween is coming

I think Taigu is probably the only place in all of Shanxi that will celebrate Halloween.

We've all been teaching our students about the American holiday in class. Each class gets to celebrate differently, some of us hand out candy and tell ghost stories, some of us talk about what we are afraid of, some of us share American superstitions in exchange for Chinese ones.

We will also have a Halloween party on Friday for all of our students. That's about 600 students. It's in an old classroom building. It is going to be crazy. These Halloween parties have a history of being crazy in Taigu. They all have to be in costume too.

I'm still trying to think of a costume. If you have ideas, you should tell me.

But my favorite thus far is that Ben and Nick have both had their classes carve pumpkins. (The pumpkins here are green on the outside instead of orange.) And they are awesome. Much more creative and clever than a lot of pumpkins I've seen in America. Some are faces, some are patterns, some have English carved on the side, and some of them are smoking cigarettes.
Nick has put them on our porch. And the best part is watching other students walk by the outside of our house and stop suddenly and stare at the strange carvings. Some smile, some step closer to get a better look, some look confused, some seem to shake their heads, others point to show their friends, most have never seen a carved pumpkin in their life.