A Break To Remember: The Freshmen's Halloween Party

A Break To Remember: The Freshmen’s Halloween Party
By Sandra Ha

 

Just a year ago, most of the GLP freshmen were busy writing application essays to come to Daewon. After receiving the last report card in middle school, the pressure to go to Daewon occupied the train of thought of so many freshmen. Most of them spent Halloween locked up in academies without knowing that the date is October 31st. These were the dark ages when GLP was not introduced to any of the freshmen’s lives. After a year, thankfully, they are in GLP, one of the only few classes in Korea that celebrates Halloween.

In Korea, it is virtually impossible for students to celebrate Halloween in a conventional way. Korean residence dominated by apartment buildings has vanquished anyone's dream of initiating trick-or-treat. The backbreaking schedule of a Korean high school student has also tantalized the slightest desire of wanting a decent Halloween party at school. In this harsh situation, GLP sunbaes have cultivated a tradition in which Halloween does not go away unrecognized. They have adapted Halloween in a GLP way. In addition to costumes, make up, and food, GLP Halloween also gives the sense of pleasure that sprouts from the situation in which GLP can enjoy the remainder of October while the domestic classes can't.(Most of the times, this is a period called "Guknaeban Hell" when the domestic class takes three hours mock tests to prepare for November's Korean SAT.) 

Succeeding the Halloween tradition enriched by sunbaes, the first graders also armed themselves with the Halloween spirit. “The Halloween night was amazing. I was really excited because we had never had a party like this before. It is wonderful to celebrate Halloween in Korea, a country where Halloween is still something disparate.” Lindsay Lee, a GLP student, confirmed the joviality and excitement that was prevalent in the freshmen’s Halloween party. The party itself was pre-planned, but all of the details happened in the spur of the moment. On the day before Halloween, Ms. Lee generously allowed the first graders to bring costumes and snacks to create a Halloween ambience. Each class prepared Baskin Robbins Ice cream cake, Dumari Chicken, six boxes of Choco Pie, and Chupa Chupas. Everyone went viral when Ms. Lee opened the ice cream cake, so she allowed each student to only eat one spoon at a time. This regulation was effective in terms of controlling the eating frenzy, but it turned out to be too time-consuming. The food distribution predicament was soon resolved as the ice cream cake was dissected into six parts and delivered to each people.

A lot of students prepared costumes like the Vampire Slayer, FedEx delivery guy, McDonald’s janitor, a witch, a milk cow, a cute kindergartener, a transgender ballerina, and a pink pet dog. Some of the guys wore Daewon uniform skirts and put on intricate makeup to look like a girl for one day. One of the teachers ended up saying that one guy looked like a very masculine prostitute.

Everybody thought the Halloween party would just end as a break time costume party, but the teachers proved them wrong by extending the Halloween spirit to GLP sessions. All of the students in the class gathered in a circle to share scary stories and play truth or dare. Rosa Lee, a new student who just joined GLP, says that if she were still in the domestic class, she would be solving boring trigonometric functions while other GLP students were celebrating Halloween as a family. “I couldn’t understand why my GLP friends had so much pride on being GLP before, but now I understand. If it was the domestic class, nobody would have brought costumes even though the teachers allowed you to. But most students in GLP was in funny costumes and taking pictures with others. Halloween party really made me feel the solidarity of GLP – an element missing in the domestic class.”

Although it was exciting, some students thinks GLP Halloween Party could be better next year. “I just hoped the party could be more organized and well planned out next year. This year’s party was rather spontaneous. Many students were worried that the teachers might not cooperate, but thankfully, they did. I know it will be hard, but I hope next year’s party could be more organized with all grades involved with mandatory costumes. It will be a cherry on top if the teachers could also wear costumes.”

It is definitely not a typical American Halloween party, but the GLP adaptation has inculcated valuable memories to GLP students about Halloween. For students who had spent twelve hours a day to solve hundreds of SAT Math IIC problems, for students who had stayed up until two o’ clock in the morning to prepare for SEOMUN, for the seniors who had worked on their application essays for more than three months, and for all the GLP students and teachers who are spending the last two months of 2012, the Halloween party was a great break that shed a new light on Daewon life. This truly told all of the first graders why they wanted to come to Daewon last year about this time, when they just received their school report card to decide what school to go.