Halloween

Happy (early) Halloween. In school I’ve been milking this holiday for the last month, having the kids color Halloween pictures, fill in Halloween worksheets, work on Halloween word searches, and most recently creating cut out mummies. Oooooo. Yet, this is nothing compared to the Halloween activities going on at the Tree House school across the street from my apartment. The school is decked out with an inflatable monster in front, a giant hanging spider above the door, and housed over a hundred pumpkins shipped over from the U.S. and destined to become Jack-o-lanterns.

Last night, I was able to witness the fright activities going on at the school first hand by participating in the haunted house. The teachers at Tree House have been scaring kids nightly with a haunted maze/house that runs Thu – Sun. I arrived at the Tree House around 7p, so straight from work. The kids had just finished pumpkin carving outside with their parents, guardian, or their Pilipino nanny.  The place was a bit of a mess with kids in costumes running around and trampling over the pumpkin guts littering the wooden deck. A talented Chinese guy twisted balloons into Halloween themed toys for the kids, and there was also face painting going on. I found Chad and some of the other teachers I know, and followed them inside for the Haunted House. In a cardboard box full of Halloween gear I found a silvery cape to wear and an attractive mask of a Walt Whitman looking old man with a face frozen in a scream. Putting the mask on, and stroking the long white beard, I decided this would suite me nicely.

The haunted maze, constructed by the hardworking teaching staff, fills the backyard of the school and then winds up an outside staircase that leads back through the inside of the school.  The whole area is lit by black lights and strobes, painted with neon glow paint, and filled with creepy music and fake screams. It was great fun, and much too scary for many of the kids. Perhaps it had to do with the amusement some of the teachers gained from scaring the obnoxious kids in their classes, but by the time they reached where I was sitting (with an air gun machine) near the end of the maze, about ½ of the kids were crying. I would have to stick out my hand and wave to the poor frightened kids showing them the outfit wasn’t real as they were hustled past by their parents. Other kids were much more fun. Sitting in the end of the hall way with my cape wrapped around me and the air gun hidden, most became terrified as soon as they spotted me at the end of a long hallway lit by a strobe light. As they were passing I sprayed them with a blast of air and pretended to grab them, usually causing a frightened yelp as they ran off.

Two hours flew by, before the haunted house was over. During clean up the teachers joked about the usually tough kids who were clinging to their mothers, or a particularly good scare.  However, I think the funniest moment of the evening came before we even started the haunted house. I was standing outside the school with Chad, who was dressed in a skeleton mask and black cape, two witches, and a pirate, all of us were attracting attention for the Haunted House. A Chinese girl comes over and wants a picture taken with us, which we happily oblige. Then, looking at the entrance of the place, then back at us asked if it was a church …