Halloween

Halloween is not a major or even minor celebration in China.  Our students generally know a little about it and some have activities and parties with a Halloween theme.  However, most don't do anything special.  And yet, when we went to buy groceries this week, there was a section of the store with Halloween costumes and other related items.  Children were there encouraging their parents to purchase them something.  We both did a culture lesson in our classes where we actually wore a costume, (that we purchased at the grocery store), and described some of the activities associated with this holiday.  In particular, they seemed to enjoy seeing photos of our sons, Ryan and Tyler, in their Halloween costumes in times past.  We sang the "Halloween, Halloween, lots of fun on Halloween" song and practiced the "art" of really scaring someone.  We also taught them how to carve pumpkins and encouraged them to gather around a candle in the dark of their dorms and tell spooky stories.  (We practiced those in class, too!)

Though most Chinese don't celebrate Halloween, we learned that the apartment complex next to us was carving pumpkins on Wednesday night and the children were going Trick or Treating on Thursday.  There are two professors living there who are from the US but are married to Chinese women.  They started this tradition a few years ago and it has grown every year.  Those in the complex who want to participate allow their name and apt number to be posted on a list at the entrance to each stairwell. The children then know which apt door to knock on.  Our friends, Brian and Sara, who live there, invited us to participate.  We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the little Chinese boys and girls in the costumes knocking on doors and reciting, "Trick or Treat" in English.  It was definitely a unique experience.

 This is Brian carving a small Chinese pumpkin

 and his son Toby "assisting."

These pumpkins turned out really well, especially since it was a challenge carving such small pumpkins.

 This is Sara and Toby waiting for the Trick or Treaters to arrive.  Brian is in the back working on his costume.

These guys dressed up like Chinese children.  They learned

very quickly the result of saying "Trick or Treat" and did not hesitate approaching every door.

 This is Toby and his "Monster Tree" dad, Brian.  The maple leaves

 on the trees here are humongous.  Brian frightened the little ones

 without saying anything.

To the right are Brian and Sara's friends, Ben and his son Alex.  Ben's mom lives in Forest Grove and his sister and husband live in Gaston.  It's a small world.  Both Brian and Ben are professors here at Shandong University.


We have an outdoor track very close to our apartment where we either walk or run mornings when we don't have classes.  There are hundreds of people there starting at 5 am until about 8.   Nancy has befriended a women who also runs nearly every day and now looks for her so they can jog together.  Her English name is Julie and she is working on her PHD and is doing research in Microbiology.  Her English is quite good and helps make that morning run a little more enjoyable.

Nancy's new friend, Julie.

After our church meetings today at the hotel, we had our dinner with our fellow BYU teachers. We were about to return to our own apartment on another campus when a group of Chinese students came to the hotel lobby.  One of our BYU teachers had spotted them in the hotel looking for  "English foreigners".  They were participating in an English class and had decided to speak English all week.  They wanted to practice their English with native speakers and were delighted to find out about 11 English speakers upstairs! We talked with them for almost an hour.  They were interested in universities in America, etc.  We also sang a song to them and they sang one in English and one in Chinese to us. 

The students are studying architecture, engineering and political science, but all are interested in improving their English. 

Believe it or not....a vendor on a bike with all those balloons.  Since the balloons are "light", I guess balance is not an issue!