My Halloween Gig

Today I had a gig as a Japanese-speaking Foreigner. I was supposed to talk about Halloween in America to a bunch of kids as part of a storytelling event. The whole thing was an hour and a half and included getting treats from a confectionary, storytelling, a costume contest, and a craft.

The storytelling came before my little spiel. The first picture book presented told the history and meaning of Halloween, thus decimating the speech I had planned. This was followed by two more storybooks, by which point the kids were getting restless. They wanted to get up and move around, but they were supposed to listen to me. By this time it was an hour into the event, and there wasn't much time for the craft. Also, I didn't have much to say, so I just said whatever I could think of that hadn't been mentioned yet. It probably took about five minutes. They paid me, but I feel guilty about how little I did.