Happy… happy… “how do you say Halloween?”

Inspiration hits, calls, texts, and emails go out, a loose, but enticing plan is made, and events are set in motion without really, truly thinking it through.  And that’s what I was thinking when I found myself sitting in the front seat of a cab in my bathrobe, with a shower cap on, with a yogurt and oatmeal facial dripping from my face - a totally thrown together Halloween costume from whatever was at hand, and no way to explain the situation in Chinese.

Part of the Chinese culture is to stare at whatever interests them.  If it’s a foreigner, they state the obvious, "Laowai!" (foreigner!), or “Look, it’s a foreigner!”  The bolder ones will yell, “HELLO!” followed by lots of hilarious laughter.  This is part of my daily life.  I usually wear my headphones and try to ignore it.  I only get upset when "HELLO!"  happens on my campus because, come on, this is an international school, this is my home base, please give me a moment of peace.

For the first time since I’ve been here, the costumed PCVs rendered the staring Chinese mute.  When we walked out of Stephanie’s apartment and down the street to get cabs, not a single, "Laowai!" or “HELLO!” This was Saturday night, and 8 of us, including a few plain clothed, shocked Chinese friends, were heading to an American bar, creatively called “Foreigners.”  One of the bar owners also teaches English at Stephanie’s university, and he promised a free bottle of something if we showed up.  That’s all it took.

After we sorted out the cab situation and we were on our way, I thought I should say something to the driver since he was staring at me and driving headlong into oncoming traffic.  A little too late, I realized I don’t know how to explain Halloween in Chinese, I don’t even know the word for party!
     I asked him if he knew Halloween ("Ni zhidao Halloween ma?").
     Don't know ("Bu zhidao").  
     So, I continued with the usual: "We are university English teachers from America,” as if that explained everything.  
     He just said, “OK, OK” and went on with his insane driving.
I was expecting, but didn't get: I don't understand ("Wo ting bu dong").  This is my only language goal: do not use, and do not hear, "Wo ting bu dong."  

The thing about being a foreigner is that it’s easy to meet other foreigners; we all stand out.  Just like the Chinese, Jason will say “laowai” to any non-Chinese person he sees, and he makes friends easily that way.  We met some new foreigners that night, but mostly we filled the bar with the people we already knew. 

Stephanie, feeling moved by the Halloween spirit, starting planning a party at her university for next year.  She spent the night talking to everyone, gathering ideas, and taking pledges for help and stuff that no one will remember in a week, much less a year away.  Still, her enthusiasm is positive energy, and I’m feeling a little bad, just a little, that I didn’t plan any Halloween event here.  But, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up! Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do?

An impressive good-person story came out of that night.  Another foreign teacher at my university left her wallet in a cab.  The cab driver called the university, drove out here, returned it to her, and didn’t want anything for his honesty or trouble.  Now that's good karma!  She did manage to leave some money in his cab for him.