A Bunch of Randomness and A Happy Halloween!

I know, it's been a long time since I put a post up, but you know, things in East Asia are busy these days! Today was Halloween and we had a party to celebrate together. David dressed as one of the Drill Guards that are really like doormen at each of our buildings, Matt was a pilgrim, Anna was a western girl, Beth was a rapper thug, Kelly was a Bama fan (she went to Auburn, but it was also to poke fun at a friend), and I was the Turkey Bowl. You might be thinking, "what? the Turkey Bowl?" Let me explain. Each year it is tradition here in our region to have a football game around Thanksgiving between the guys from SEC schools and the guys from ACC schools; a game we call the Turkey Bowl. Halloween is not celebrated here, so costumes are a little on the harder side to come up with, let alone put together and execute. So the other day, I woke up and thought, I'll be the Turkey Bowl. How in the world I gerry-rigged this costume, I still don't know. I spent an entire afternoon hunting down the things to make an attempt at a turkey costume and a bowl to put around me. It looked so easy in my head! It worked though and I gave all the people in our square a good laugh and got some good points and stares as I walked along in my turkey outfit as they kept calling me a chicken. (They don't have turkeys here). And as a result of everyone liking the costume so much, I've now been elected to be the Turkey Bowl SEC mascot this year! YAY! Hmm, let's see....I know there's more to tell you about....like how I went to the orphanage this past weekend and taught some of the kids there how to play musical chairs and the Hokey Pokey. You'd think it would be sad to go there, but it was such a fun time to love on them and just be with them. I could tell they had a great time too! Afterwards I went with a friend to the zoo finally. So you can't actually play with the pandas, that was a lie I believed from the internet. The day was a little cloudy, but when we got there, the sky cleared and the sun came out. It was perfect to just spend time enjoying some of Dad's creatures, although I've got mixed emotions about the whole thing. It's really sad to see a lion in a cage smaller than the size of my living room. It didn't make sense because the Pandas and Tigers got these huge habitats (well, huge in comparison)...anyhow, for the first time ever, I saw two Hippos also! We had some friendly encounters with two giraffes which was probably my favorite part besides the Orangutuan that pulled a piece of burlap around him like a cape, but over his head. looked like he was cold even though it was a warm day! I had some good conversations and a great trip to my city's first Wal-mart on that day as well. Don't be deceived though...it's VERY different than the Wal-mart's in the States. All this said, I've had some pretty good adventures to tack onto the last few days, with much certainty that many more will follow.