Halloween

So, Halloween isn't a traditional Chinese holiday or anything, but there is still plenty of celebration for it in Beijing. It's just among the foreign community and the foreign savvy Chinese. It was actually kind of funny to walk down a street (granted, it was in a very foreign part of Beijing) and see Beijingers in which costumes and crazy makeup and things like that. I suppose just a little example of the cross cultural influence. We get The Art of War, full use of a dirt-cheap labor force, and Kung Fu, they get factories, zombie costumes, and Kentucky Fried Chicken (which is a big hit here by the way, you can't ride a bud or a cab for more than 10 minutes without seeing the KFC logo)

On Monday I went to check out the Beijing Juggler's Club, which I had found online jsut prior to fall break (the story of which I will continue later). I met the guy that seems to organize the thing （Fed， a chill and talented Italian juggler， although he can do lots of skills， including Diabolo， Silks， Parter-Acrobatics， balancing objects on his head， and probably a few other things as well）, as well as some of the folks who are regulars， who range from beginer to profesional performer， although most people are at the beginer end of the spectrum. There were several people playing with poi, and a few doing balls and/or clubs. One German lasy I met there, Ines is a trick bike performer, but she definitely has some dance and acrobatic skills as well, and I think she is just picking up juggling. I had just got my break down fire staff in the mail, (SOOO COOL! Thanks so much mom & dad!) and when I took it out and starting spinning and tossing it a little a few guys thought it was really cool. I didn't light it up or anything, but Fed was impressed with the lightness and balance of it. Fom a performer and pursuer of circus skills older and more experienced than I to complement it, that makes me think I made a good choice. Homeofpoi.com (use this discount code to get 9% off!: Joe6)has always done me well before. Before I left Fed handed me a few flyers for an event on Friday, "Death Prom." I told him that I would definitely check it out, and when I said that some friends and I had done Michael Jackson's Thriller dance previously, he invited me to come to the practices and join in.

Jamie and Alana and I went to the practices on Wed and Thursday, chose roles as a geek, a princess, and a stoner, and got turned into zombies. The show on friday was fun. It was like a social party with entertaining acts every now and then between old school swing music, but our roles were to infiltrate the audience. ATＩＮＴＥＲＮＥＴCAFEＡＮＤSOMETHINGＩＳFUNKYＷＩＴＨTHEＫＥＹＢＯＡＲＤ，ＰＲＯＢＡＢＬＹＢＥＣＡＵＳＥITＩＳMEANTＦＯＲCHINESEＣＨＡＲＡＣＴＥＲＳ，ＲＡＴＨＥＲTHANＥＮＧＬＩＳＨ,WILＬFINISHＵＰＤＡＴＥLATER.