2009年,可欣在美國的第3個萬聖節/2009, Classie's thrid Halloween in America! @ 貓咪の物語．友情．生活．Cat's Life

(目前只有英文,中文版2-3天便會補上...考驗自己的英文,去讀讀看吧)

It's FINALLY HALLOWEEN!!!
I don't know if you guys in Taiwan FEEL it or not, but everyone in South California definitely DO :)
Stores are filled with Halloween related products
Costumes, party plates/cups, Halloween cook books, party instructions, pumpkins...
All those stuff not only show the importance of Halloween, but also show that America is such a PARTYing country
The thing that I love the most about the culture/people here in America is that, holidays are actually celebrated, and celebrated BIG here :D
I love how the stores start decorating, coupons with holiday symbols printed and being passed out, people having parties, and sometimes the school giving us a day off on certain holidays
It gives me the chance to get to look forward to holidays, and that is something that is not that common in Taiwan
In Taiwan, the only holiday that is celebrated by the whole country is probably New Year
Besides that, none of the holidays really make all people feel related to their lives
Let's do a little comparison between the common holidays known in Taiwan & America...

HOLIDAY comparison :)
Holiday	Taiwan (Taipei)	America (S. California)	I like…I think
New Year (Jan 1st)	Fireworks for Taipei 101, thousands of people gather in front of the building for the count down; family dinner, parties, New Year sales in department stores	Fireworks; parties, family dinner; Pasadena Rose Parade, New Year sales in almost all stores (CVS, Trader’s Joe)	Both New Year celebration in Taiwan and America are very big holidays
Martin Luther King Jr./Lincoln/Washington Day	No official federal holidays celebrating any famous people’s birthdays (we do have a tree planting day)	3 official “birthday” holidays a year stores having sales, coupons school off	We don't need to go to school, and thats awesome
National Day (Independent Day)	Fireworks, parades with everyone waving flags in front of the city hall or something? School day off	Fireworks in many cities, school off, celebration, parties sales in stores	I like it in America better, I mean, I can feel the passion everyone has for this day, and that I feel like everyone is so united together, it's awesome!
Moon Festival/ Thanks giving	Giving each other moon cakes, good time to bribe your teachers and friends 1 day off Sales in stores, malls	Giving each other turkeys 1 day off, I think... Thanksgiving dinners Sales in stores, malls	I compare those 2 holidays, because they are really similar, not in the origin or purpose, but the way people celebrate it I still like the US one better, because I feel like students/kids are more involved
Halloween	Some schools talk about Halloween, and let pre-school kids trick o treat at school as an class activity Some stores decorate in Halloween themes	People actually dress up to school REAL trick o treating Halloween parties Decorations sales	It is pretty obvious that America is more into Halloween than Taiwan In Taiwan, Halloween is more like a material to teach kids about in an English class
Christmas	Pretty well known, people get/give presents Christmas trees decorated in the mall, but not at house Christmas sales	Great national holiday People get/give cards, gifts, all sort of stuff Decorations everywhere Christmas sales Christmas break (winter break)	I like receiving gifts in America better, in Taiwan, I only get x-mas cards, but in the US I get all kinds of stuff :)) yay~

So...yeah

I obviously like the US holidays a lot more

Not that I don't like Taiwan

It's just that, I don't think Taiwanese people have the passion of celebrating most holidays

I'm a party person, so that's probably why the American holidays are more favorable to me...

Anyways, this year, Halloween is on a Saturday, which is pretty cool, because we usually dress up to school on Halloween, and since this year we don't get to do that, we dressed up to school the day before...it's like having Halloween TWICE :D

Here are some of the pictures I took at school:

Halloween, Halloween, Halloween...!

October 31^st, 2009

Jacqueline's Halloween PARTY~

At 5:00 in the afternoon

I went to my friend Jacqueline's house with my sister...

We brought cookies and apple juice

There were 11 people at the party

We sang the Disney karaoke for like an hour, it was really funny, because I don't know all the lyrics, so the parts I don't know, I just kinda sing random lyrics, and comment on the music video...LOL

After screwing up random songs, we had a pot luck dinner kind of thing, cookies, cakes, fried rice, noodles, soup, cupcakes, candy...

And then at around 7 or after

We left Jacqueline's house, and went out Trick O TREATING! (Finally!)

We walked a pretty long way, and Daniella had to take off her shoes, because the high heels were killing her :) (trick o treating without shoes, classic! +1 bonus point for that, hehe)

We went to like 20 houses or something

Saw so many people from our school

Someone even wore the school spirit shirt, haha

The street we trick o treat-ed on is probably one of the best streets for trick o treating in Arcadia

The people that live there have like awesome big houses and yards, and they are very willing to decorate the yards with all those awesome pumpkins, skeletons, and dead bodies...

Oh, and we went to the famous pirate house, I think that household does the same pirate house every year. It's basically like a haunted house kind of thing, before we went in, Winnie and Ru were kind of scared, so they were kinda like each grabbing one of my hand, and... we entered >:D

It's kinda like any other haunted house, people with scary costume, block your way suddenly to scare you, and if you don't scream, they kinda just follow you until you are creeped out. The part that kinda impressed me was this tunnel part of the haunted house, basically the sides of the tunnel are like those huge white cloths (reminds me of bed sheets...), and when we walked through, on other side of the “wall”, there were people standing there, randomly poking the cloths, to scare people. Winnie and Ru were like trying to hide from the sudden side “attacks”, so they kept squishing towards me, which was kind of funny.

After that, we went to a few other houses, and Meagan, she some how lost her camera...

We looked everywhere, and just couldn't find it

We left the owner of the house that Meagan thought she lost her camera at Jacqueline's phone number, so that if they find it they can call Jacqueline, but to be honest, the possibility of finding it back is less than 50%... *sigh*

I really hope Meagan's parents won't be too mad because of this, it wasn't exactly her fault, she didn't mean to loose it or anything

Anyways, Meagan started crying, and most of us really wanted to say something to make her feel better, but couldn't think of one, so we just kind of stood there in silence. I went to her, pat her back, and told her “Don't worry, there's still hope of finding it”

We went to another few houses, and then turned back, walked on the other side of the street to visit more houses...

We finally went back 2 or maybe 3 hours later, and we continued eating and chatting

Some on us left, the rest of us started cleaning up together

After most of the people left, we continued singing...

When Meagan and I were the only 2 left, we chatted for a long time on the sofa, until my dad called the 3^rd time to pick me up

When I left, Meagan was still there....sad about her camera *sigh*

Anyways, I had a great time tonight...tiring but FUN

Thanks to Jacqueline!!! LoVe ya ^_^

I hope I get to go to Knott's Scary Farm next year, hehehe (who's with me??) ;)

Oh, and btw, it's my dad's birthday today also (yup, on Halloween)

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!!! ;)

Classie