Obviously, my days of costume-wearing didn’t end with college theme parties, so I was more than a little excited when I heard that there would be a Halloween party at work this Saturday. With four other friends I decided to dress as the “Pink Ladies” from Grease. Getting our outfits together was an adventure in itself, and proof that costumes here are limited only by the imagination and how far in advance you start planning. Early last week, I bought pink satin fabric from Talat Sao (a market/mall where you can find anything and everything if you just know where to look). Next I brought it to the tailor, who took all of our measurements and an example jacket to copy. Ten days later, the jackets were dropped off at the screen printing shop, and we picked them up a couple of hours before the event, and completed the outfits with teased hair and pink knockoff Raybans. Some of our male friends dressed up as very convincing Lady Gagas, but for their own sakes, names and photos of this spectacle will not be released. Other costumes of the night included several different zombies, and a woman with a giant bug on her head.
After finishing teaching on Saturday (and handing out more than a few Halloween word searches and phonics games), preparations for the night began. The roof room at school, where the party was held was decked out with papier-mache bones, cut-out bats, and orange lanterns. The event of the night was trivia–one of my favorite party activities. The quizmasters were dressed as zombies, a led us through several hours worth of trivia, with “movies,” “science and nature,” “Halloween,” “food and drink,” and several other categories. Our team, composed of a group of the “under-30s” from the “ex-colonies” (Americans and Australians, while the quizmasters were British) made a strong effort. Despite the fact that we unexpectedly dominated the “music” round, we were unable to identify the Singapore Sling or the man who discovered the x-ray, and didn’t win any prizes in the end.
It was a very fun weekend, and there is only more to look forward to this fall. The weather is starting to cool off here, which means I can sleep with no air conditioner, and am starting to forget what it’s like to sweat all the time. The city is gearing up for the celebration of Vientiane’s 450th year as the capital city of Laos: more Lao flags are lining the streets downtown, and 450th tshirts and bracelets are for sale all over. I’m not sure what this celebration will entail, but I’ll get to find out in the next few weeks, which will also include the That Luang festival.