Well, it's that magical time of year when kids start preparing to gorge themselves on pillowcases full of candy and Salemites wait an hour in line simply to be scared in the basement of the Oregon School for the Deaf. But here, across the pond, people aren't quite feeling the Halloween spirit like I'm accustomed to. This afternoon I went to the costume store and chatted with Iva, who works there, about Halloween.
From what I've gathered, most of the youth here take the "trick" part more seriously than the "treat" part. When I asked a few people what they did last year on Halloween, they said they just threw eggs. Ummmmmm. Of course teenagers throw eggs on Halloween in the US, but I mean, the general Halloween consensus I've found here is just more depressing. It's not quite the ginormous deal it is in the US.
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| Ready to dodge some eggs! |
There's that cute It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown piece to Halloween that I kind of miss. Children apparently do trick-or-treat here, but nothing like I'm used to in Salem. I mean, people would drive from across town just to trick-or-treat in my neighborhood. Here people laughed when I said we go through somewhere north of 200 pieces of candy on Halloween night. But I guess of all the holidays to not embrace, Halloween is probably not a bad one to skip over, if simply from a health perspective.
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| The traditional German clothing section is pretty well stocked. |
Viktoriaschule is having a party on Friday for the younger grades, kind of like Judson or Leslie would. However, I have been notified that students do not wear costumes to school here. I didn't wear a costume to school since back when I was a little kid, but there hasn't been a Halloween yet that I haven't dressed up. From Tinker Bell to Snow White to Spice Girl to stewardess, Halloween has always been a fun, creative, quintessential autumn event.
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| Viktoriaschule knows how to party. |
But despite these cultural differences, I'll still definitely be celebrating Halloween. I've been watching a bit of Scooby Doo, picked out a costume, and am ready to go! Halloween will be spook-tacular even if it means trading my Kit Kats for Kinder Schokolade.