Halloween

Since I grew up in Australia, where Halloween doesn't really exist, I do not have a special childhood connection to the holiday. However, while going to University I certainly developed an appreciation for adult Halloween parties. I've done a few different costumes in my time, like The Crow, Humphrey Bogart, or the classic male drag. However, when you are in a foreign country, finding a costume shop with a good selection is not easy. If this was Japan I would probably have a lot more costume options than in Korea. As long as I don't mind going as a Furry or an Anime character. The best I was able to find here in Busan was a wig stall and some basic face paint in a party supply store. Since it was the only prop I found, my green wig became the inspiration for my outfit. This year I went out as Oscar the Grouch. I got the wig on Friday, and I spent Saturday morning trying to find a store that sold garbage cans large enough for me to walk around in. Since their is no Canadian Tire in Korea, I was tragically out of luck. In the end I made the creative choice of cutting the bottom out of a laundry basket, from which I hung a sign saying "Garbage Can" (written in both English and Korean). All in all it was pretty stupid looking, but a fair number of foreigners actually got the costume with little or no prompting. Unfortunately, Sesame Street never really took off here. So only a few Koreans got my costume. I didn't really care about that when I was out partying. But when I wore the costume to school for Monday and Tuesday I had to show the my classes Youtube clips before they could understand what I was supposed to be. At least they all thought it was a hilarious costume. Teachers are figures of high authority and respect for children in Korea, and seeing a teacher pretending to be (as they saw it) a garbage can, was the height of amusement for them. They called me "Su rae gi (garbage) Sun sang nim (teacher)" all day.


Enjoy the picture. I am afraid that it doesn't do the fantasticness of the costume justice!