3 in 6,000,000: Halloween (The Sequel)

Today was the Halloween party at Atticus' school. In the afternoon they had a little event for the parents to attend that included a few songs and an outdoor carnival. In fact, this year was much more well put together than last year – but that isn’t really saying a lot. There did seem to be some organization and actual planning this round though- which is a improvement from many other French school events. There were, of course though, still plenty of just weird things. Jon ad Sam are always happy for these potluck type events though, because one of the French parents (we assume) always makes the most ridiculously delicious crepes. There are definitely some nice perks of attending a school full of Europeans!

So, when we arrived all the parents were brought into a dark lobby lit by jack-o-lanterns and the kids were all in costume waiting and making spooky noises. A few kids recited some poems and then they all sang a song. It was a wonderfully short program. Can you spot Atticus in the pictures below?

He’s hardly visible because his costume is so fantastic. So here’s a quiz for you.
Is Atticus dressed as:
     A) A Zapatista
     B) A member of a Black Bloc
     C) A ninja

The answer is a C, but honestly, this outfit has potential in many other situations. We also like how completely and totally DIY our costume was. It is just black sweats and t-shit (hey, if ninjas lived in the tropics they would’ve worn short sleeves too!), an old piece of black fabric (off the b-day pirate flag actually!) for a belt, and the bottoms of Sam’s black sweatpants that she cut into shorts – Atticus has saved these for months with this express purpose in mind. Jon sewed them up into a mask and it worked great! Total investment: 200 taka (less than 3 dollars) and he has a black t-shirt he can wear again and sweats we’ll probably have to argue about wearing publicly repeatedly.(Sweatsuits are not for public people- they are for home on a cold evening or bedtime – the only guy who needs to be wearing sweats in public is Rocky Balboa, and honestly, his time passed a while ago too.)

So anyway, he was a damned cute little ninja/anarchist and we didn’t break the bank on a costume.

After the song show we all went out back to the school yard and there were various activities. There was “The Nasty Chaudron” which actually, guys, was a little too nasty. We don’t think we’d even want the candy out of that.

There was also a game where kids ate donuts off of a string. Brilliant! Expect this at any event we ever host!

There was also “Scary Fishing.” What was scary? We have no idea. Atticus loved it though.

Then there were the many piñatas. They had apparently made them a little too thick (and the sticks a little too thin) so each kid took turns whacking it for ten whacks, and it was really mostly an exercise in futility since they were way to hard to crack. Eventually they figured out how to get them to break though and honestly the hitting of the piñata is the most fun, so the kids were happy to cheer each other on as they whacked away. We don’t know why they looked like planets. One of the many mysteries that always come with EFID events.

We call this picture "Another World is Possible." It really is an inspiring picture.

There was also some dancing, delicious treats, and general fun times. It was nice watching Atticus in his element – he’s become really comfortable there and seems to really flutter to and from different social circles easily. We don't know what to say about this picture though.

So, as we were leaving, we are told to sit and watch the show. What show? Oh, you know, the weird random all-in-french show that the middle school girls are performing in the exit pathway. Nobody really knew it was happening, people were walking though it on the way out – it was the complete mess in terms of organization that we’ve come to expect from the French school. Here’s a picture of the play in progress, and the surrounding confusion.