万圣节快乐 Wànshèngjié kuàilè (Happy Halloween!)

As a general rule the Chinese don't celebrate Halloween.  That said, Suzhou has many western expats that do, so the trend is catching on.  Our local 7-11 sized grocery store stocks customs and decorations as does our Metro (the Chinese version of Sam's Club). Many of the apartment and housing compounds organize their own trick-or-treating events.  LBean's school does not recognize Halloween, but they did have a free-dress day (no uniform) and she wore pajamas to school.  

Dressed in orange & black and ready to party!

EBean's school does celebrate Halloween and took the children trick-or-treating in each classroom. She chose to wear her Korean Hanbok and be a Korean princess.  She's been very multi-cultural this week.  On Sunday, Jamie brought back beautiful scarves from India for all of us.  On Monday EBean decided to wear the scarf as an Indian sari to school...all day long!  She has an amazing teacher that kept re-wrapping the scarf when it fell.

In the evening a brave, brave friend in our apartment building organized a Halloween potluck.  It felt like hundreds of people (but it really wasn't) gathered in the lobby of our apartment building for hotdogs, baked beans, chips, potato salad, egg rolls, Chinese dumplings, cookies, cakes and lots of other yummy things.

We had a picnic on the floor!

EBean with her friend T

A cupcake, a Korean princess, and Cleopatra!

For the third year in a row, I pulled out my Scarlett O'Hara dress that I had made in Shanghai our first fall in China.  Did anyone happen to read the story about the high school teacher that wore the same outfit for class photos for about 30 years?  I think I'll be like that for the next 30 years with my Halloween costume!

I made Jamie put on a fake mustache so he could be my Rhett Butler.  I appreciate his sense of adventure!

ChinaBean is old enough that she caught onto the idea of reaching for candy very quickly.  She even tried saying "trick or treat" a few times, but not to the dad in the scary mask.  When she saw him she hid underneath my dress!

Often I am told that EBean and I look very much alike (minus the hair color difference).  I don't usually see it, but I think our cheesy grins in this photo do look a bit familiar...

ChinaBean didn't do too badly with her loot.  I think it has something to do with the fact that our upstairs neighbor let ChinaBean empty half her bucket into ChinaBean's Halloween sack.  (Thanks Anu - you might find that candy in your entryway some night!)

The photo below is not a great picture from a photographic point-of-view, but it sums up the night so well.  The air was cool, but not cold and the rain stopped for the evening. I like the lights of other apartment buildings in the background, children coming and going in their costumes with parents trailing behind, a big group people and bigger sense of community.  A perfect night.

Papa Joe's Visit

Looking at the fish in the pond by our apartment.

Papa Joe was able to come for a quick visit in October before flying back to the US.  Because he'd been in Asia for around two-and-a-half weeks, we tried to have lots of things that reminded him of home.  We had chili with cornbread, pork chops, cheesecake, grapefruit, but I was unsuccessful in finding diet caffeine-free Mt. Dew.

Sorry LBean, this is the best photo
you & Papa Joe!

Papa Joe & EBean

After we picked up Papa Joe from the airport we went back to the Shanghai Fabric Market to pick up the girls Halloween costumes.  On Sunday we took Papa Joe and a co-worker of Jamie's from the States to Walking Street.

Unfortunately the end of Papa Joe's visit over-lapped with the start of the stomach flu being passed around  our family.  EBean and I did manage to take Papa Joe back the airport and we can't wait for him to come back soon!

What's That? Wednesday: The Shanghai Fabric Market & the Joy of Halloween

For Halloween this year we took advantage of the affordable sewing talent in China and had costumes made.  Suzhou has several tailors that are popular with the expat crowd and Jamie and I plan to use them in the future, but for this project we headed to the Shanghai Fabric Market.

I wish we had pictures of the interior of the building to show; it's really hard to describe in words.  The building is very large with 3 floors of small stalls and rooms just filled with fabric, dress forms and pre-made dresses, coats, costumes, suits, ties, and scarves.  It was almost too much for me to handle.  Oh, the possibilities!

We had a recommendation from friends on which stall to try first.  It had lots of sparkly fabric and tulle, very promising for LBean's costume.  I was a bit over-confident in my negotiating skills and when I balked at the original asking price and walked away (to try and get the woman to call me back and agree to my price), she let me walk away.  I couldn't believe it! I wasn't too worried because there were hundreds of other places to try, but every time the asking price was at least double what the first woman had quoted.  I was getting a bit discouraged and decided that maybe we would just try have the costumes made in Suzhou.  Not only were the asking prices too high for LBean's costume, but we weren't having any luck finding the right fabric for EBean's costume.  At this point I decided that what I really needed was a Hobby Lobby craft store.

Finally, on the third floor we discovered a small stall making bathrobes and other things out of soft, fuzzy material.  It was perfect for EBean's costume.  We showed the stall owner a picture of EBean's costume and he quoted us a price that was exactly the same as the quote for LBean's costume at the first place.  That sealed the deal...we would get EBean's costume made there and I would go back and eat crow and have the first place we visited make LBean's.

LBean getting measured for her costume.

I love this photo because our driver and I have the same pose!

After we ordered the girls costumes I decided to go and just "see" how much it might cost to get a Scarlett  O'Hara dress made for myself.  I wanted the green velvet dress from the movie, without the curtain rod for you Carol Burnett fans!  The asking price was at least half what it would cost in the States, so I decided to go for it.  The woman did up her asking price after she measured for the length of the dress (perhaps I'm a little taller than her average customer), but it was still a great deal.  This woman was making my childhood dreams come true!  And, now for the next 30 years I will be Scarlett O'Hara for Halloween.

Even though we spent more for the girls costumes than I had planned, the "deal" I got with my costume more than made up for it.  It was a really fun experience!

LBean's finished costume (without the wings)

LBean's inspiration photo

EBean as Hoho the monkey from the tv show
Ni Hao Kai-Lan

EBean's inspiration photo

Meet Scarlett

My inspiration photo