P/S: This is a very informative post on Halloween (万圣节) in North America. It's lengthy, but read on!
Halloween in North America - as we all know and would expect - is indeed a huge blast every year. And of course, I was really excited to be able to experience it right here in this very part of the world, where the holiday's full-blown with all its hoo-ha, yet unfortunately a tad too over-commercialized in certain ways (Laura and Judy agree with me, too).
Swamped by tonnes of both academic-related and non-school work, I didn't really opt for a costume party thing - no time to conjure one up, nor felt like doing alcohol over the weekend - and we do have those back in Singapore too, albeit on a smaller scale. But after all, there's always a party somewhere..? (Haha.. ok maybe I was also trying to convince myself I won't be missing out much too.. :S)
But still, I chose to do something really cute and one-of-a-kind - I spent the night with Judy at Anne's place, watching little trick-or-treaters come by and gave out candies to them! Woots. Haha.. it's something I won't get to experience back home anyway, and oh my, the kids were really all-dressed-up and super cute! Whenever a kid came by, knocked and shouted "trick-or-treat!", we'd swoon over them instantaneously and Judy Anne and I would go "awwwww" simultaneously, haha. :)
Trick-or-treat?
Trick or Treat, Smell my feet
Give me something good to eat
If you don't, I don't care
I'll pull down your underwear
Not too big, Not too small
Just the size of Montreal
Judy taught me this little rhyme they'd known since kindergarten, thought it's cute to share! :) I think "Montreal" (mon-tree-elle) doesn't rhyme though, and it could've been something more rhymey like "Just enough to fill it all" or something, haha.
xx
Anyway Friday night was kinda cold, so I really empathized with some of the kids who wore costumes that didn't look that warm, heh. Apparently though in Winnipeg, it's supposed to have started snowing by Halloween every year - if that happens, parents usually bring their children to malls for trick-or-treating instead, taking candies from shop assistants. It's cute how this works too; people bring all kinds of things to store their candies - plastic bags, backpacks, little baskets (damn cute!), even pillowcases! Haha.
Anne's family (the Thorimberts) have a smart way of "regulating" their candy inventory - they count the number of people who knock on their door every year, so as to plan the subsequent year's purchases. Also, younger kids (9 and below) will be given more snacks and sweets; bigger kids (10 to 12) get slightly lesser; while the really older ones (13 and above) only take a choc bar or something. And these old kids must still sing or perform something before they're given candy! Haha.. they're quite open with it though, and I'm pretty sure a 16-year old faked his age (he hesitated and said, "err, 14") just to get a little choc. Tskk. And he sang a "mature" song! Omg.. haha. I think if I were him I'll go get my own goodies instead of being shot weird dirty looks door-to-door lor, hehe.
Anyway, the Thorimberts receive more than 100 trick-or-treaters every year, and Judy and I were tasked with counting the number of people - they had 98 this year (I certainly hope we didn't miss any, cos I was also slightly distracted with swooning and taking pictures)! In fact, I was so afraid that people might remember their house as the one "with the weird girl who wanted to take pictures with random people". Haha.. really, what if they don't dare to come anymore next year! Haha.. bleah.. and really, all my pictures are of random children leh..
How to regulate candy inventory with Adriana Thalia and I munching on them ever-so-often? Heh.
Personal favourites: Wini with Winnie the Pooh in Winnipeg, and a really cool gumball machine!
The guy on the right looked damn freaky when he walked down the streets.. eeyer.
2-year-old Spongebob and some butterfly (her wings were very pretty from the back, heh).
Anne's nieces, 3-year-old Hadley the parrot and 5-year-old Trysten the fairy. The witches look cute too!
Funny episodes for the night
1. Messed-up spotted dog
(Enters a regularly-spotted costumed boy, black spots on white body)
Anne: Ohhh.. what an awesome cow outfit you have!
Boy: (snarls) I'm not a cow, I'm a DOG.
Anne: Oh okay, sorry.. (sheepishly) Boy shakes head and walks away.
I guess he was a Dalmatian la, but he didn't put on the headgear what! So we didn't dare pretend we knew what people were anymore, which leads us to (2) below!
2. Oh-whatever
(Enters 8-year-old boy)
Judy: Oh, what are you today?
Boy: I'm a goblin, (shrugs and looks away) oh whatever (just give me my candy..)?
OH MY GOD. Haha.. Judy and I were speechless after that!
3. Hello pumpkin
Judy: (points to a kid that parent is holding; kid's dressed up as a lil' pumpkin) Hi, I'm sorry, but my friend here is having her first Halloween ever. Can she take a picture of THE pumpkin please?
I think the parent was kinda shocked by the way Judy asked.. haha.
So here's THE pumpkin referred to above.. haha.
xx
Hello-wee-nee wants to say something..
Anyways, there were many people who came all dressed up for lessons on Friday itself - quite a sight! And you know, my pumpkin is now so shriveled up, it's really bogey now and looks damn ah ma-ish! :(
And by Judy and Anne's brilliant suggestion, maybe I should bring trick-or-treating to Singapore, working with my mum's kindergarten kids! Haha.. and yea, I guess kids are always happy during Halloween ba, they have their bags at least 75% full leh! But we're also happy during Chinese New Year ma right? Don't need to sing songs (even at our age) and still get money! Hahaha. :D
AIMS Move Night on Thursday, where we watched 3 horror shows - but the typical ang-moh types, where the evil never dies and it's just all gory and bloody only.. yikes. But it was fun to have so many people cringing in the couches together la, haha. To the right's a damn cute cartoon - yes, being a banker is sooooo scary in current times! BOO.