A Japanese Halloween Party

We were invited to a Halloween party on Tuesday night, and thankfully Keanna's costume was already completed! I spent so much more time on hers than on Sydney's and it shows, but I'm happy with how they turned out. Anyway, this party was interesting...a friend of mine teaches English to Japanese women and their kids, and she had the party for them. She invited a few of us Americans, but we were in the minority. The kids came in costume and they played games, we all ate, and had a great time conversing with each other. Keanna and Sydney did great interacting with the other kids, and watching them play together was so refreshing-you'd never know there was a language barrier. The older kids spoke a little English and I think they were practicing on Keanna and Sydney. The kids colored, ran around and played Tape the Nose on the Jack-o-Lantern. That's Keanna on the right. She's getting spun before taping her nose on. The layout of the pictures is driving me nuts, but I can't seem to get them lined up correctly! It looks fine when I type it, but once it's published it messes up.

Everyone brought a dish, but the my favorite was chicken skin on a stick. That's right, I said chicken skin. I wouldn't have known it had the hostess, Laurel, not said anything. She gave me a heads up in case the girls had a bite. It looked just like chicken, and tasted so good! One thing I wasn't expecting was the hoopla over Root Beer. The Japanese women there had never tried it before, so when they started smelling it and taking tiny sips I couldn't help but take pictures. I'm sure you're wondering if they liked it, and none did!











One of the women there teaches Japanese here in our housing area, and I am starting classes on Tuesday. It's $7/hour, but there's only a few of us in the class and my friend can watch the girls for me. We're actually going to swap kids because she's in the advanced class which is immediately before mine. It's put on by Morale Welfare & Recreation (MWR) and I'm anxious to get started. My teacher is on the left in the first picture below. They were trying the Root Beer there and in the next couple of pictures.