2005-10-31 - 9:33 a.m.

OOOOh its Halloween in China. I am a day ahead of y’all. I rule. It seems that the only people in China who give a flip about this “holiday” are the foreigners. Especially the Americans. I took an informal poll of people from all over the world and asked them if their respective countries did indeed allow small children and not so small children to beg for candy from complete strangers while dressed in ridiculous clothing one night a year. Everybody but one Canadian said, “Absolutely not.” Even the Brits and the Irish don’t do it much, and that’s where this whole mess originated. Or maybe it’s Mexico. I read online that it was the British Isles. Since the internet is oh so reliable, I whole-heartedly believe everything I read. Since Americans are so fond of westernizing every nook and cranny of China that we can get our corporate, grubby hands on, bars all over town held Halloween parties, no doubt organized by their American managers. For the international pub crawl set of Shanghai (the hordes of people who seem to have come to Shanghai for 2 reasons-1.to drink as much as possible at all times, and 2. to avoid being a grown-up in their own country) Saturday night was heaven on a biscuit. The local people were out in full force as well, but I didn’t see too many of them dressed up. They spent all night staring at all the silly foreigners. Mike and I went as skeletons.

We were scary. A group of Chinese girls screamed and ran when they saw me. Seriously. I don’t think they like to think about death, or see skeletons boogieing to ABBA’s “Mama Mia.”

We started out at a place called Mint. Their flyer said it was free entry for “the children of the darkness.” We didn’t have to pay, but I think they were too scared to even approach us. There were about 20 people there, and we were the ONLY ones dressed up. I am quite used to the stares from Chinese people when I am not dressed as a skeleton, but this was absurd. I made faces at people and yelled “Rawr!” if they stared too long. Within the hour, the place started filling up with people, and most of them were costumed, even if it was just a mask or a stupid hat. I must say I was disappointed with the lack of variety and creativity in the Halloween costumes. (Okay, skeletons are not the most original idea…) Mike wants the name of the holiday to be changed to “Slutoween”. He thinks it has become an excuse for all women to dress up like hookers and streetwalkers and get away with it.

Our next stop was a Mexican restaurant called Zapatas. This place is infamous for its rowdy late nights and scantily clad girls dancing on the bar.

There were better costumes at this party.

Here’s “….like a moth to a flame”. We went out with our friends Levi, Moi, Leslie, and Anton. It was a good time.

Mike and Elvis (levi)
It was at this party that the girls ran screaming from me. They were dressed as slut fairies or something. They literally squealed and turned the other way when I walked by them. I gave them the best scary sound I could muster up and held my hands out towards them and kept moving slowly in their direction. Great fun. Several strangers asked if they could get their pictures taken with me.

It seems that Mike and I were the only party-goers dressed as something scary. I looked through the whole place. There were enough sexy nurses to staff an entire hospital, but no monsters or devils (unless you count the “sexy” kind) There was a costume contest, but the actual bar/restaurant was so completely jam-packed that we stayed outside for most of the night. I’m sure we would have won.

By the end of the night, our make-up had been mostly rubbed off… Yet another fun-filled holiday (of sorts) for us in Shanghai. I can’t wait until Christmas. Maybe I will dress up as an actual Christmas tree. My mom tap-danced at a dance recital to “Rockin around the Christmas Tree” with 3 other moms. They wore Christmas trees. I am not kidding. Maybe she could send it to me and I’ll see just how many stares I can get in this town… Trick or Treat!

?lt;/P>

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