Halloween Cont.

Dinosaur!

Though I was stuck teaching on Halloween night, I did make it to a Nov. 1 Halloween party at the home of an American journalist working in Taipei - someone I met at the FCC happy hour. James and I found a quickstop by the subway station. We bought my dinosaur hat (seen above), a fake beard for James and the cheapest bottle of wine we could find. Then we made our way to my new friend's house.

There was a pretty good turnout, mostly western men and their local wives/girlfriends. Everyone was older than us. But I didn't get invites to any Halloween parties for twenty-something westerners in Taipei. And people were very friendly anyways.

Pretty much no one was dressed up. That's ok, I'm always going to dress up for Halloween. James had to toss his fake beard because it was shedding everywhere. We camped out on the couch and chatted up another couple. The man was from South Africa, though he's been in Taiwan for a decade now. His wife is local. We talked about where to visit in China, the can't-miss destinations within Taiwan, and a little bit of global politics - all the while I had to keep pushing my dinosaur back up my forehead because its feet kept covering my eyes.

Then it was time to catch the bus back to Nankan. James did a good job of not acting annoyed when I wore my dino all the way home.

Happy Halloweeny!

It's already Nov. 1 in Taiwan, but back home I know you all are knocking back the booze and donning your trampy costumes as I type. And by you all I mean my friends, not my family members who read this. My family members are probably just going to sleep.

The cram school kids were out of control last night. Who can blame them? I probably would've called social services and would've asked to be taken away had my parents made me go to EXTRA SCHOOL on Halloween night.

Between classes the school owner asked James and I what Halloween was like for us when we were kids. Did you go out and trick-or-treat every year? Oh yes, of course. Did you always dress up? Yep. Sure did.

Then he told us when he was a boy, back when Taiwan was still under martial law, no one was allowed to celebrate Halloween. Chiang Kai-shek was born on October 31. And the Generalissimo didn't want kiddies dressing up like monsters on his birthday.

If I ever come into command of a police state, I will make everyone dress up in my likeness on my birthday.