Cookie Monster

Thank you, America, for celebrating a crazy holiday known as Halloween. Thank you, Laura Baker, for being super gung-ho about the holiday. The result of these two yielded one of our most fun nights in Harbin yet. In preparation for the “big day” Laura and I had spent a fair part of our weekend baking cookies and preparing goodies for our 140 students. Sure…candy would have been the easy way out, but candy is so American. We’re going China style!

For freshman students, it is required of them to sit in the classrooms from 6-8pm every night to study, literally a mandatory study hall. The plan was this: to surprise each classroom by basically just busting in, dressed in costume, and delivering the goodies. Can’t get much better than that.

That plan is exactly what happened. In Laura’s apartment we prepared ourselves. Lauren ‘pulled a Sound of Music’ and created herself a princess costume from one of her curtains. Laura has hair which is a natural costume for her as it can easily be turned into a mane…a roarin’ one at that ;) So then that leaves me…the one who isn’t really too great at costumes. I’m totally game with a piece of paper and a pencil, or paint, or chalk, or a keyboard, but creative clothes? Not my thing.

I did inherit a cape from last years team. I am also now the owner of some pretty ballin’ cookie monster pants. Put ‘em together, we’ll call myself the “cookie monster who gives away cookies”. Sharing is caring.

In every class we entered the results were instantaneous cheers, applause and the busting out of cell phones. Within the span of an hour and a half thousands of pictures were taken. There were oooh’s and ahhhhh’s and smiles and delight.  
Joy radiated from their faces.

Our cheeks were so tired. And we still had three classes to go.

Let me tell you, snickerdoodles are a huge hit with Chinese students.

We had made our way down to classroom 411, the Smart Dolphins. As expected they were completely taken off guard and instantaneously exited. The festivities and photoshoots ensued. I had not realized that the entire class was not present at our ‘grand entrance’. In the middle of photos and such a small posse of 5 students came to the door, puzzled and baffled, one of them being Helen. Some of you have heard about Helen, she is a special student to me. She is also the class monitor of 411. Confused and aghast at the chaos going on in her classroom she was quick to discover that I [and Lauren and Laura] were the culprits of the uproar. Her instantaneous reaction, which I did not expect, was a gallivanting towards me. I thought she was heading for the cookies in my hand. Instead she went straight to my waist, hugging and jumping all the while. “Oh Miss Kayla, I love you, I love you!” Delight, smiles, and joy: something I didn't see coming from this girl.

So, maybe we didn’t experience the typical American Halloween this year, but Halloween’s in China are pretty hard to top. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Miss Lauren, Miss Laura and I with the Smart Dolphins, Class 411.