They were great, even if we weren't the best guests! We stayed there for 2 nights and it was a short walk from all of the nightlife, but was in a very quite area.
Anyways, we went up directly after school on Friday since Halloween was on a Friday night. We dressed in our costumes and finally made our way to the mass of people. There were a lot of people, but there weren't many Koreans dressed up... and if they were, they were zombies or at least had blood smears on them.
Most of the people in themed costumes were foreigners. Ben and I (mostly Ben) chose to be Mario and Luigi this year. We were instantly a hit in Hongdae, taking tons of photos with random people.
After the millionth photo Ben and I took...it got a little much... Every person we passed said, "OHH Super Mario". They weren't that familiar with Luigi, they called him "Mario" too. It got to the point that we were like a photo booth. At one point in the night, Thomas and Sian (who were minions) and Ben and I (Mario and Luigi) were sitting outside of a club. We had found stools and there was a gap between us two couples. One person asked to take a picture with us, and before long we were actually a photo booth. We took pictures for 15 minutes like that. Ben had an extra mustache on a stick that I had made, and he would give that to the person and then put his had on their head. I think that we did good to stay good sports about it. We kept telling ourselves that this is most likely the only time in our lives that we will be in the "famous" category...
Back to Halloween: Most of the night was a good night. There was a point in the night where we found ourselves amongst a fight/beating. From what we could tell, an American (military?) man had done something to upset a bouncer for a club. The bouncer was the largest Korean man I have ever seen in Korea. In my opinion, the bouncer took it way to far. There was so many punches, and the girlfriend of the American man was trying desperately to stop the fight. So much so that she was getting in the middle of the fight and at times was on the ground pleading, and dragging on the floor holding on to the legs of the men. No one was stepping in and the man was getting hurt so bad. Usually when this happens, people step in after the first few punches, but this fight went on for so long. Apparently no one knew these people and were willing to stop this massacre...
MJ alerted me by saying," You better get Ben out of there..." I looked over and my Luigi, along with a few others from my group, were in the middle stepping in to stop it. After seeing how much indifference the bouncers had towards the girlfriend of the man, it concerned me to become part of it... I ran over screaming "BEN! BEN! and tried to pull him out. In the process we both got blood on our white gloves.. :(
Looking back, I completely appreciate that my man was seeing an injustice towards the smaller man and took it upon himself to step in and help end the fight. It was obvious that the smaller man had already had a lot of alcohol and even though he was getting pummeled, he wouldn't give up. The bouncer went too far. That being said, violence makes me feel really uncomfortable and I really try to avoid it. I don't think I am brave enough to step in like Ben did....
All of us were in a little funk for an hour or so after this fight. We even turned down taking some picture with "our fans". We all knew that we had witnessed something that went too far! It took a bit to get back into the Halloween spirit- but before long we had found it.
Our costume was all homemade, we didn't order anything online. Here is our secret....1) Hats: I found some hats on sale at homeplus. We had tried to find the right color hats for over a week and it just wasn't happening. Instead I bought some hats on clearance, and covered them with colored sticky felt. It just took a little bit of geometry skills since the hats were 3-D.
2) Overalls: Ben was able to find blue jeans/pants, and I was able to find a skirt after many attempts that matched. To make the overalls, I used a matching felt and added felt buttons. Also, as a last minute addition I added a pocket pouch in the front. It was the best last addition! I carried and collected so many things in that pocket pouch!
3) Mustaches: I used black sticky felt and made Ben 5 regular mustaches, and then a stick mustache for each of us.
4) Yoshi: This was a little more involved. Yoshi was made with a hideous shirt that I got last year at a temple stay and also Ben old socks. I first took the shirt and socks and tried to mold them with rubber bands to get the overall shape. Then I put duct tape over the shirt to hold the shape. I also attached a large wooden stick.Next I took Yoshi to school so that I could paper-mache him. I tried to put sticky felt on him, but he was too round to hold the felt on. I used a thin white paper and a glue/water mixture. It took a few layers, but finally it was all white. I knew if I used white paper, it would be easier to paint later...
After the glue dried I was able to paint him. I only painted green and white and added the other features with sticky felt. It was slightly difficult to add the spikes on the back of Yoshi's head, but I managed... On Halloween, the weather was bad; it was raining. I was worried that Yoshi would basically melt because I painted him with a water-based tempra paint, so I decided to put a clear coat made of water and glue on the top. To finish Yoshi off, I braided hemp to use as bridal and reigns.
Since it was raining, I covered him with a bag to protect him as we made our way to Seoul on the bus/train/subway/walking journey.
Since Ben got to make the final decision of our Halloween costumes this year, I get to make that decision next year. I wasn't sure how Mario and Luigi would go over, but it was a great success. It will be tough to top that next year! I better start now! I can say one thing safely- there will NEVER be another Halloween when we get as much attention and praise as we did this year. Koreans are amazing, and astounded by what foreigners do for Halloween...
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