[everybody scream // it's almost Halloween // do the trick-or-treat]

Halloween isn't a Korean holiday. (October 31st is, however, Ace Day, a day dedicated to eating, giving and generally spending money on Ace brand crackers, a Ritz knock-off.) A bunch of hogwons had Halloween parties on Friday and some public schools had Halloween celebrations during English class, but the thought of buying enough candy, even the cheap stuff, for all 650 of my student was daunting and I'm not organized or creative enough to come up with an actual costume to wear to school, so Friday was classes as normal.

Most of the Halloween celebrations were on Saturday, but I went out to an expat bar in Bundang showing Rocky Horror Picture Show on Friday night. It was my first time watching Rocky Horror, and I spent the evening with a lipstick V on my forehead and was drug up on stage to learn the Time Warp. Lots of people were dressed up, including two drag queens and while I didn't dress up per se, I did don red and black stripped knee socks and my red Chucks with the skull shoe laces in honor of the occasion. It was fun, although I couldn't actually hear any of the movie over the shouting and I kept having to ask what was going on. I eventually gave up; no one watches Rocky Horror for the plot.

I spent Halloween Day itself in Hongdae. Seoul SnB has recently found a new cafe that sells yarn and has cats and boys in leather jackets working a knitting machine and bark tea, so obviously it's a great place to meet. It's also conveniently located just down the street from the Habanero taco truck, which has some of the best Mexican food I've had in Korea and also, the chef finishes off the burritos with a blow torch. He also filmed our ringing endorsement of his tacos with his iPhone and put it on Twitter. After knitting, a group of us went for kimchi jjigae, which is delicious, and then Caroline, Audrey and I went for a desert party involving chocolate cake and a detour through an optometry store for an improntu glasses purchase.

즐거운 할로윈!

Pictures from Halloween:


♪It's just a jump to the left / And then a step to the right / Put your hands on your hips / You bring your knees in tight / But it's the pelvic thrust / That really drives you insane. / Let's do the time warp again.♪


Habanero Taco Truck


kimchi jjim: a delicious stew of kimchi, tofu and pork.


Say Kimchi!: Caroline and Audrey taking a picture of themselves with Audrey's phone during our desert party. They've gone native.