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Published: November 3rd 2012
Welcome Ghost
The first thing you see as you enter campusI usually think of Halloween as a minor holiday – a fun night to dress up, hand out or get some candy, and then move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas. At AIS, however, it seems to be the major holiday of the first semester. While the rest of Venezuela doesn’t celebrate Halloween and is already preparing for Christmas (I have seen more toy commercials in the last few weeks than I ever need to see), the PTA started preparing for Halloween over a month before the actual day. About two or three weeks before Halloween, they took over the library and began to create a haunted house. Then the PTA might as well have gotten sleeping bags, pitched tents, and moved in. They were here every night after school and all weekends, too. Slowly the school was turned into a place where Jack, the Pumpkin King, would have felt right at home. The Halloween party was not on actual Halloween, but Friday night – November 2. On Friday, surprisingly, not many students came in costumes, or if they did, they had a second “better” costume that they would be wearing to the school party that night. At 9:30, the pumpkin carving
Ghost Bottles
These lined the way for Trick-or-Treaters began…and lasted until 12:30. In my mind, pumpkin carving is cutting a pair of eyes, a nose, and a mouth into the pumpkin, sticking a candle in and calling it good. Not here. Some of the pumpkins ended up in better costumes than the students. Cinderella’s carriage – complete with horse and miniature Cinderella – Woody – with body and little Woody doll – several bats and Spidermans, a couple Frankensteins, a dinosaur, and two cats…there was not a “normal” pumpkin to be found. The parents were definitely more into the pumpkin carving than most of the younger kids – after about 10 minutes most of the kindergarteners and first graders were running around playing while their parents continued to carve. Since I was dressed as pre-ball Cinderella, I spent my time looking for my fairy godmother (found several fairies, but none of their magic seemed to be working), waiting for my pumpkin carriage to be finished, and arguing with several fifth graders about cleaning their classroom. In the afternoon, I taught my high school students a few Halloween songs that were set to the tune of Christmas songs and took them “Halloween caroling” to first grade and kindergarten. While
Guardian of the Door
One of these on massive webs guarded the entrance to the school. in kindergarten, the kindergarteners taught the high schoolers “A Tootie Ta” and the high schoolers asked me if we could go back every Friday.
The evening began at 6:00 with the students trick-or-treating at all the teachers’ houses (candy provided by the PTA). Not only were our students and their parents invited, but they could bring other family – cousins and such – as well. The costumes were quite amazing – my favorites included Luigi and a mummy. After a quick staff photo, I spent the next two hours in a foam tree costume and a skeleton mask in the haunted house. Then I transformed back into Cinderella – luckily, my fairy godmother had arrived and provided me with a ball gown – and wandered around for a bit. My night ended with watching students beat four piñatas to death and then make a made scramble for the candy and toys inside. With that, the overwhelming and over the top Halloween ended. I hope the rest of the holidays are not this exhausting or intense.
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El Eterno Caminante
Greg
Hello there..
I just came across your blog , I know VERY late, but I wanted to know if you had any information about the school you were teaching at in Venezuela a couple of years ago? If not I understand just wanted to ask. Thanks ... Greg