Halloween Fun

So Friday was Halloween. There was no staff meeting on Friday so I skipped out a bit early to head back to my apartment. I then had about a FOUR HOUR LONG webcam chat with Alicia Rapp from back at Drew. I was more than happy to talk to someone from home but that meant that the silly girl stayed up from 1am to 5am. Yessh.

After that I headed out to meet up with Andrew and Charlotte to go out for the night. First we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant near their apartment. I rode Charlotte's bike and she sat on the back of Andrew's. Delicious eggplant. And my dish of beef and mushrooms was yummers. Then we headed back to their place to costume up and head out. The subway ride to the bar was ridiculous since we were all in costume and I looked rather silly as a jester. I smiled and waved to every kid I caught staring at me.

The bar we went to was called I <3 Shanghai. We met up with Lucy and her friends and hung out. There was much dancing and a some drinking. My only real complaint was that the bar was so smoky it made my eyes hurt. (Yeah, smoking at bars is still legal in China). It was a little weird when I saw student from my high school. Not a kid from my class, but still. The bar did seem to be full of young expat kids as well. I also spent a good part of the night sitting next to a co-worker of Lucy's friend, named Evan, and talking geek. Mostly Star Trek, especially since I am on season 7 and almost done with the series. We didn't stay too late since Charlotte had tutoring in the morning. We headed back to their place, stopping only for quick munchies on the way back. Then bed.

Yesterday after waking up and heading back to my apartment, I had a sort of video chat with Bonnie. She doesn't have a webcam so I could only hear her and she could see and hear me. We synchronized our efforts and watched "P.S. I Love You" at the same time, and knitted. It was fun. :-)

Saturday night I went on a pub crawl. I had asked Iris to go with me so that I would have someone to hang out with at the crawl that I knew. She never showed up. Luckily for me, though, there was someone there I had met at the wine tasting (Ron) and he and I hung out for the night. We went to 8 different bars, riding on three huge buses in between. People had some pretty interesting costumes. There was a Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama on our bus, as well as a praying mantis, monk, Michael Phelps, and a peacock. My favorite was probably the impressive Sarah Palin look alike that was on another bus. There were all sorts of contests on the bus and at some bars we got free drinks. There was one bar where there were even people going around with free pizza! It was SOOO GOOD. Ron and I lurked around the entrance to the kitchen area so we could snag more mini slices.

I had a ton of fun last night and didn't get home until around 3am. Today I am meeting up with a student and we are going to pick up supplies to make medieval clothes for next week. This weekend has been busy busy busy. I am quite tired. I hope Cecilia and I find everything we need quickly so I can come back and take a nap or get to bed early. With all my running around I haven't had time to clean my poor messy apartment.

I should sign off and make some lunch before I have to meet up with my student. Here are some pictures from Friday night. I don't have any from last night yet.

This is my costume:

I got the hat at Carrefour. I made the shirt by cutting up and sewing back together three plain t-shirts in different colors. The trim on my sleeves and knees is just braided ribbon with bells on it. The belt pouch I made by sewing together the sleeves I cut off my shirt. Ta-da! Jester!
This is me being a show boat and juggling at I Love Shanghai. Charlotte and Andrew said I should use it as my drunk test. After every round of drinking, see how well I can still juggle. I am amused by the look of concentration on my face.

This is Evan, the guy I talked geek with. He said himself he wasn't sure what his costume was. It went from rugby player to Indian to cat.

Lastly, me and Lucy! She was dressed as a lovely hula girl. We busted out some real hula dancing in between the normal club dancing.

Anyway, have to run now. Much love everyone!

-Stephanie