I went to my school’s Halloween program yesterday. I was dead exhausted all day because I didn’t sleep much Tuesday night, and instead of taking a nap I did laundry and cleaned the apartment.
The opening number was a lovely zombies-dance-to-Thriller ensemble. Fantastic. There were songs and skits in Chinese and English, most of which were pretty uninteresting as these things go. The dance routines were all more interesting than the songs. The kids were really happy though. My Year 10 students, in black and white costumes with black umbrellas, dance very stylishly to some French chanson-type song.
At the end of the show, a student invited me to the “Spooky Hallway” on the fourth floor, where we waited a long time, chatted with other students, and then finally, entered the hallway of doom. people jumping out of lockers, scary masks hanging from ceilings, dark rooms, a blood-splattered bathroom… you get the idea. One of the students held my hand the whole time. There’s slightly less personal space her in China
When I explained to my students that it’s rare in America for students to hold hands with each other, they looked a little confused. It means they’re dating, to hold hands and hug each other a lot, I said. No, no, they protested, even girls together and boys together? It means they’re dating, I repeated. Here, it’s not unusual for my students if boys sit in each other’s laps or pet each other on the head and for the girls to walk hand-in-hand and lean on each other and so on.
