Sunday 8 November 2009

Halloween Hechuan Style

Halloween – Hechuan Style

Last night was Halloween, and I admit, I was reluctant to go. The party has been off and on for the last few weeks, firstly because of swine flu, and then because we think the local government realised that there was a risk of somewhere in the region of 2000 students descending on a small nightclub.

I also objected to us as westerners being used as advertising tools. The reason that the nightclub agreed to the party was that it was agreed that we would sing and dance...well, the others would sing and dance. Our side of the deal was that there was free beer all night (hmmm....i don't drink beer...see why I wasn't going to make a fool of myself!).

We left here at about 7 and went to Haisi, the other college in Hechuan to meet up with Catherine and Phil, two american teachers who are there. We all dressed up, I was in lots of black and makeup. I eventually decided that I was Little Miss Suicide (A History of Guns character), Catherine was pregnant white trash (i'm not sure that the Chinese really got the white trash part, but the pregnant bump was surprisingly realistic!!), Alison was a panda, Carolina was a Zombie, Pete was Superman, Lily was a witch, Phil was an american aerobics coach, and Phoenix and Mat were pirates.


Halloween group
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy



We had been advertising the party to our students, and some of them made a real effort,


Halloween
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy



others were quite last minute.


Halloween - FBI
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy



We got the Manhattans at about 9ish, and were deluged by students, I had two literally hanging off me!




They were really sweet, but they all had to be back at their dorms by 11. Students here are treated like children sometimes, they have to be back at the dorm ready for lights out at 11, and they're not allowed kitchens, or even kettles...

There was lots of free beer, and I had a bottle of coke that I brought with me. There was no more cola appearing at any time, which I found a little annoying. I've got toothache, so i've been taking the antibiotics that the dentist prescribed before I left to try and ward off a trip to a chinese dentist (I think I need a deep filling changing for a root canal...), and so there was no way I could drink alcohol (the tablets say in big letters DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL, when you pick them up, the pharmacist insists that you understand that you cannot drink alcohol when taking them, and all over the literature, it says 'DO NOT DRINK ALCOHOL, so I wasn't about to try it). So far, they seem to be working, so hopefully, I won't be blogging about the Chinese dentist experience just yet!!

Unforunately, the others didn't perform until about 10 to 11, buy which time all the students had left, which was disappointing for me, because I wanted the students to see what they had come for.

However...before us was a Chinese drag act...it was surprisingly good!

Halloween - drag act
Originally uploaded by the.fee.fairy




There were debates between us as to whether the performer was male or female, and so we asked the students, who told us that I was definitely a lady. Then, some other students said 'no, its a man' and it carried on until the Man/Woman revealed that yes, he was a man. I wish I had been quick enough to have my camera out when my students found this out...their faces were so funny!

The nightclub closed at 12:30, which was really odd for me, i'm used to going to nightclubs that don't close until 3am!! After the club, we were invited by two gentlemen to go to a fish barbecue. The food was really really nice! There was fish, and chicken wings, and squid, all marinaded and then barbecued.

Alison and I left a bit earlier than the others, she was tired and I had decided that it was probably time to go home when there was a drunken Englishman arguing with a drunken American over whether the Monarchy was any good, along with a drunken Irish girl agreeing with whoever spoke next...she'd be more interesting if she could actually have an opinion of her own someday...

It was really odd being home at 2am knowing that the nightclub was closed and the night was over, but then Halloween Chinese style was never going to be the same as Halloween English style!

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