customs and costumes in Shanghai (year 2)

---

Two weeks ago we celebrated UN Day. This is what you do at an international school in China. You appreciate that there is a holiday all about unity among a diverse population. Our school has something like 45 countries represented. Of course some countries are represented with larger populations than others. Some countries may only be represented by one or two students. UN Day involves having the students dress in traditional clothing or in their home country’s flag colors. In the case of the USA, some of our fellow citizens wore sports team attire (saw a Cubs fan in the crowds) and others like my kids sported USA flag shirts and other red, white and blue attire. I even played along and wore the flag colors to school to observe the all school parade and assembly. The students sang songs and the newly formed marching band performed. It was a very festive day and one of the students gave a moving speech about the significance of the UN as an organization. I felt proud and somewhat emotional observing such a beautifully diverse group of kids and parents.

Then the next day we went back for more international fun with the food fair. There were twenty tables (some countries teamed up to serve regional food together) and we sampled foods from around the world. I was irked by the inflated prices of the Israeli’s falafel sandwiches. They were good, but not priced in the spirit of the event. The goal was to offer inexpensive food and to donate some of the proceeds to charity. No need for a $3 half a pita sandwich with a smidge of hummus. But then we were sure the Korean table should charge more. They served up generous bowls of yummy noodles and their prices were crazy low.

During the week, I arranged a successful photo shoot for the magazine I work for part-time. I had eleven girl scouts from around Shanghai gather at our school to do a group shot and individual shots. Emily was not going to be in it but we had room at the last minute, so she did take part. It was fun meeting the moms and girls from other schools and the girls were excited to be part of a photo shoot and a magazine article.

I organized a fun Halloween party for Emily’s class. It was your classic school party—4 stations, some games, a food table, a craft. The usual. Then we had a party at our Girl Scouts meeting to celebrate the founder’s birthday. Ice cream social immediately following school party=bad idea. Lots of over-sugared girls running around in circles. We survived the meeting and Emily and I went out in search of a taxi. The line outside the school was long. I had about 3 shopping bags of crap from the various parties and Emily was dressed in her Vietnamese clothes and hat (for her costume). We walked and walked and she started to moan and groan. I was praying for a taxi miracle, and finally I saw an empty taxi heading in our direction. I jumped a guard rail and thankfully the guy stopped (they aren’t supposed to stop when there are guard rails). We celebrated our transportation victory with a high five and headed home. I really have to figure out the bus routes to and from school. That, or I need to start begging for rides to the train from our friends who pile into their minivans after school without a care in the world. That’s why we make friends, right? To mooch rides.

Speaking of mooching, on Saturday night we continued the Halloween festivities and went to Hongqiao—expatville. Nathan went to trick or treat at his friend’s compound and Emily and I went to another friend’s house. I invited my family to these friends’ homes because we have no such celebrations in our “real China” neighborhood.

It was like stepping out of China and into our neighborhood back home. The houses were decorated with cobwebs and skeletons. The streets were lined with kids ready to trick or treat. Funny aside—apparently many of the foreigners (particularly Europeans and more specifically the French) who are not from countries that celebrate Halloween, still get in on the action. They must have figured out there’s free candy for the taking, but they haven’t fully adopted the ritual of costumes and saying the requisite “trick or treat”. So these kids come to the door in their regular clothes and just hold out their hands and wait for the candy. Or, I’ve heard they sometimes say “give me candy.” Talk about lost in translation.
For a second print magazine assignment this past weekend, I forced the family to go drink lots of cocoa. We had to go drink hot chocolate at two places. Because we’ve had some illnesses in the family, and because I am a procrastinator, I waited until the last possible day and so we had to hit two restaurants in one day. Yikes that was a lot of hot chocolate. Add to that my current diet focus, I needed the rest of the family to help me consume these beverages. I just had sips and the kids and Mark did the heavy lifting. It was a fun experience, and I felt like Scoop Slaven with my notepad and my pencil jotting down everyone’s reactions. Luckily the weather has cooled making it ideal hot chocolate drinking weather.

Photo disclaimer: I don’t have a single shot of Nathan in his costume this year. We will have to recreate it at some point for the memory books but he was never in his costume with me on the two occasions that he wore it. Oh well.

---

Comments

[Geeze]

C and C year 2
Hi Suzanne, Let the good times roll..sounds like you are having many Kodak moments! Love you, Aunt Geeze