When you’re from the Northwest, as we are, you’re used to a certain idea of Halloween. By the end of October, it’s cold and rainy and blustery, but being the hardy Northwest kids we were, that didn’t stop us from trick-or-treating. No, instead we’d dress as hobos, layering on the clothes, or we’d dress as ballerinas and freeze to death, borrowing our dad’s jackets halfway through the night. Despite all Eric and my travels, though, we’ve never ended up out of the country on Halloween, and especially not in a place where Halloween happens in the spring.
Today was balmy and warm. Sitting in the sun outside for lunch, Eric and I complained about the heat, actually. Then evening came and we ventured out - first to a showing of “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” which was dubbed in castellano and renamed “The Weird World of Jack.” The showing was full of kids, and in 3-D, so that was loads of Halloween fun.
Then we ventured out to a bar where we had read there would be a Halloween party. We didn’t have costumes, so we bought masks at the door (which were completely terrifying) and the party ended up being a little bit lame, although we did get something to eat and manage to meet a nice girl from Maple Valley, Washington. Random?
Walking home, we saw lots of costumed people in the streets, but they all had a couple of things in common. They were all in their early 20s and they were all screaming drunkenly…in English. Yes, friends, this is what we call “Study Abroad 2008.” It’s one thing for Argentineans to take their kids out to see a Halloween movie, but trick-or-treating is not really something they do here. And I can understand why, based on who’s out in the street celebrating.
We did have a fun night though, and we even vetoed the pumpkin ice cream at Persicco at the last minute because I didn’t really feel like it (I know, completely out of character). We’re hoping they’ll still have some tomorrow. I’m trying not to get my hopes up about it, because I love pumpkin ice cream at home, but I don’t imagine it will have the same nutmeg and cinnamon flavors we have at home (As I write this, I can practically taste the Tillamook pumpkin ice cream in my mouth). We’re really missing the fall in the Northwest, for sure.
Tomorrow I start National Novel Writing Month, also known as the crazy four weeks where I disappear into a cave and hope to come out with something. And tomorrow we’re also going to see REM and some other bands at PersonalFest. Should be fun - stick around for pictures and more!
