Down with the Sickness: A Cold Halloween Weekend

Today all my children are wearing Swine Flu proof face masks. These come from the same school of engineering that brought us the Nuclear Bomb proof school desks in the '50s.

Speaking of masks, last Friday was the school Halloween party. I was completely overwhelmed by the cuteness. There were a huge number of princesses with fairy and elemental variations. Amongst the boys Power Rangers and Harry Potters reigned supreme. In the costume contest the winning Pre-Schooler was dressed in a huge tiger costume and carried a golf club. Can anyone guess? I have a feeling his family helped him with that one, but he might just be incredibly clever.

Later that night I went out to an early Halloween party for grown-ups (it was the 30th). Myself and the other English teachers were the only people in costumes. I think it might have been an early Halloween party of our own invention. Standing out on the street I was approached by a group of three middle aged Korean men. They were patent attorneys for LG telecom and complimented my costume. I was dressed as Agent Smith from The Matrix. They told me that I was more handsome than Agent Smith in the film and that I was also more handsome than Keanu Reeves. I'm not sure why they had to drag poor Keanu into the discussion, but I felt flattered nonetheless.

Also, while out that night, I spoke French with a Korean woman. She spoke about as much French as she did English and I speak way more French than Korean, so our conversation, while charming, would have probably given a professional subtitler an anxiety attack.

The weather has gotten cold which makes for more runny noses than ever before. This only increases fear of the Dread H1N1. We are being asked to wear masks ourselves while in class. This causes my glasses to fog up as I breathe. This is like teaching English to a dish washer that just finished its cycle. If I catch the Swine Flu, for real, y'all will be the first to know.