Halloween in Germany seems to be hit or miss. There have been years when we’ve had candy and no one comes to the door, leaving us with leftovers for months. A couple of years ago, we had a moderate turnout for Germany… maybe a dozen kids. This year, I was thinking it was going to be a bust. I turned on the porch light at 5:00 PM and by 7:00 PM, no one had rung the bell.
But then at 7:00, several waves of kids showed up. The last wave was about six or eight kids, and they were like feral animals! When they came to the door, the bowl was about half full. When they left, it was completely empty! They were grabbing candy as if the bowl was a pinata! At 7:30 PM, I was done!
I guess it helps that this year, Halloween is on a Friday. It looks like the neighborhood was participating, because I saw kids with a fair haul of candy. I guess they’ve never really learned Halloween etiquette, though, because it wasn’t a custom their parents participated in, back in the day. So they don’t seem to realize that they should let the person with the bowl hand out candy, rather than grabbing it! I suppose it’s my fault, though. I was shocked into speechlessness, plus I don’t speak German that well.
Anyway… so ends another Halloween. I turned off the porch light and blew out the candles in the jack o’ lantern. If we’re still here next year, we’ll have to get more candy. 🤣 I think Halloween has officially caught on in our neighborhood!
Good news… Mr. Bill is going to come home tomorrow morning, instead of on Tuesday. So that means tonight is the last night I’ll be spending alone. I made a music video earlier tonight, when I was looking forward to Tuesday, but it’s even more appropriate now. I’m “wild again”…
I know the syncing is messed up toward the middle, but there’s nothing I can do about it…
Ever since we first moved to Germany in 2007, and again in 2014, we’ve noticed that Halloween has become progressively more popular. We’ve also noticed that some areas celebrate it more than others do. Up here in Hesse, we’ve seen more German kids trick or treating than we did when we lived in Baden-Württemberg, but it’s always a crap shoot as to how many will ring the doorbell looking for candy. Last year there were twelve kids. This year there were only five, but it was a little rainy last night. I did get to hear the kids say, “Süß oder Sauer!”
Bill had to go to Bavaria on Sunday, so I was left to handle our crowd of five alone. He did carve a jack o’ lantern before he left, but it was already starting to rot. It’s a good thing today is November 1, because I don’t think it would have lasted another day. It was turning to mush this morning when I tossed it!
He made a classic face for his pumpkin, but I decided to put diamonds in mine. I’m not very good at making mouths on my jack o’lanterns. Actually, I’m not very good at carving pumpkins at all! But we just wanted something to cast an orange glow on a dark night…
I like this photo…Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern.
We had plenty of candy last night, and lots leftover today, even though I’ve been sneaking it all month. One of the bags Bill bought came with strawberry Twizzlers. I noticed the flavor of the Twizzlers bled into the chocolate candy. It’s not too offensive, though… and besides, American candy is expected to be too sweet and low quality. Some Germans seem to like it, anyway. I would rather have German chocolate myself, except for the odd Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
I turned on the porch lights and lit the jack o’lanterns at about 5:00 PM and kept them on until about 8:00 PM… I thought maybe some of my neighbors were joining in on the festivities, but I guess not… 😀
Anyway, I did my duty. Halloween is over now… My German friend shared this funny video about Halloween in Germany. It’s in English and pretty damned funny. I recommend that you view it.
The kids who were old enough to speak did not say “Trick or Treat” to me… And since I don’t speak German very well, I didn’t say, “Nice outfit. Happy Halloween!”
Maybe if we’re here next year, we’ll hang up some festive orange lights or something. Or take a trip somewhere else. 😉
Today is All Saints Day, so some folks are home from work. In BW, it’s a holiday, but I don’t think it necessarily is in Hesse, where there aren’t as many Catholics or religious people, in general. The weather is crappy, as it usually is this time of year. What a change from a month ago! If I were the type to play tricks on people, I might have used Bill’s rotting jack o’lantern to make a mess somewhere. But I’ve become very respectable in my old age, so I just dumped it in the brown compost bin.
In one week, Bill will be home, and we’ll be packing to go to Armenia. I look forward to it! Because after that, it’ll be time for Thanksgiving, which is my favorite holiday.
In a couple of weeks, Bill and I will be going on yet another exciting trip. It’s one I’ve been eagerly anticipating for years. We’re going to Yerevan, Armenia, where I spent 27 months in my 20s as a Peace Corps Volunteer, teaching English as a foreign language to Armenian kids. One of my former pupils got a job as a assistant director with Peace Corps/Armenia. He’s been bugging me to visit my old stomping grounds for years.
The last time we did a Champagne Bucket drawing, Armenia won. So, on November 10th, we’ll begin our journey, arriving in the wee hours of November 11th. I don’t know why, but in the thirty years Armenia has been a part of my life, they’ve never managed to schedule flights that come and go at reasonable times.
A really cute souvenir shop in Wiesbaden, with the “biggest cuckoo clock in the world”. I thought that was in Triberg!
Bill and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary, and my former student will be celebrating a birthday. I decided I wanted to bring a gift to Yerevan, so we went to Wiesbaden and finally visited a cute souvenir shop I’ve passed dozens of times in the almost five years we’ve lived in this area. It has a big cuckoo clock out front that people gather around to watch. I didn’t go there for a cuckoo clock, but I did manage to find something to bring with me to Armenia, with help from one of the employees, who was attentive from the minute we walked into the place. I like to browse unbothered when I go into a business. But anyway, she was nice, and we managed to find a couple of things to help my former student remember me forever. 😉
As we were paying, the proprietor, an older man (probably Julius Stern himself), asked if Bill works for the military. Bill answered affirmatively, so he told us we could bring in a VAT (value added tax exemption) form and get the sales tax back, if we wanted. I doubt Bill will bother, since the VAT forms cost money, and the amount we’d get back wouldn’t really be worth the trouble. They seemed kind of charmed that Bill could speak some German, and asked if we liked living in Germany. We said we love it here, and we’ll stay as long as we don’t get kicked out. And the guy said, “I doubt that will happen.” Isn’t it amazing, the difference in attitudes regarding foreigners? Here, people are mostly welcoming. In the United States, we hear lots of talk about “illegals”. Of course, Bill and I are here legally, and we like to spend money… as the shopkeeper noted.
It was lunchtime, so we decided to drop by Martino Kitchen, a really nice restaurant we hadn’t been to since before the pandemic. We were warmly welcomed by a very handsome young Black man who spoke perfect, unaccented English (or, more precisely, he sounded like a very cultured American). We took a table near the front window, which I preferred to the chef’s table in the back. I like watching the chef working, but there are also a bunch of mirrors back there. I don’t like looking at myself when I’m eating… or really, even when I’m not eating.
Bill and I both decided to have pasta dishes– carbonara for me, and truffle pasta for him. The pasta came with excellent, fresh, brown bread, and we both had wine and a glass of sparkling water. I had a glass of primitivo, while Bill had a delightful cuvee, and I liked his wine so much that I had a glass of that with dessert– a kind of cheesecake for me, and a trio of sorbet/ice cream for Bill. The cuvee tasted like strawberries when I drank it straight, but when I combined it with the plums that came with the cheesecake, it tasted like a really nice fruit punch.
Truffle pasta…Carbonara pasta. White chocolate ice cream, multivitamin sorbet, and mandarin orange yogurt.Schmand (sour cream) cheesecake with plums and multivitamin sorbet.
After our lunch at Martino Kitchen, we went next door to Trüffel Feinkost, a really nice little gourmet shop. Bill found a couple of wines, while I snuck some photos of the shop’s interior. I love these little gourmet places in Europe.
We walked back to the parking garage, stopping to watch tourists watch the “biggest cuckoo clock in the world” chime on the hour. You can see in the photo, Wiesbaden is very gay friendly, too.
Next, we headed on post to the Shoppette, where Bill fueled up the Volvo with gas, and then the commissary, where we bought provisions for me. I experienced a slight case of culture shock as I mingled among fellow Americans. I don’t remember the last time I was in the commissary before yesterday. It’s not a place I love visiting.
Bill is leaving for Bavaria again this afternoon, and he’ll be gone until November 8th. It’s going to suck, but I think I’m going to try to make good use of the time. Perhaps I’ll make some more music videos, get some reading and writing done, and get on the proverbial wagon, so I don’t end up needing medical services in Yerevan. 😉
We were going to carve jack o’lanterns yesterday, but the weather sucked too much, and it was getting dark. I didn’t want to do them inside because of the mess. I thought maybe we’d do them today, but it’s still raining. So, I’ll probably carve both of them tomorrow, if we don’t do them before Bill leaves this afternoon.
This isn’t the most exciting post, but in a couple of weeks, I expect I’ll have a lot to write about. I know I have a few readers who will be interested, because they were in Armenia with me, back in the day. So stay tuned… and wish me luck over the next ten days or so.
Yesterday, since it was cloudy, Bill went to the local market to pick up some pumpkins. We have new German neighbors who have small children and they asked us to celebrate Halloween this year. So we obliged, although it wasn’t easy to find pumpkins. Halloween is becoming more and more popular in Germany, especially in areas were a lot of Americans live. Bil had to go to three stores to find suitable pumpkins for carving. The local farm near us was having a corn maze/Halloween fest, so he thought he might get lucky there. But there was nowhere to park! All the kids were celebrating Halloween!
I remember our first year in Germany, back in 2007. We were living in a hotel on Halloween, although it was our last night there, as we moved into our first German house on November 1. The following year, we had people ring our doorbell, but since we didn’t know if Germans celebrated Halloween, we were completely unprepared. Then in 2009, we had to move back to the States prematurely.
In 2014, we came back to Germany and lived in Jettingen. That year, we had candy, although I’m not sure if we carved a pumpkin. A pair of German teen boys in rather lame costumes rang our bell. That was it for trick or treaters. Ever since then, if we’ve been home, we have candy just in case, but we don’t usually bother with jack o’lanterns. Last year, we were Croatia on Halloween, which was a marvelous place to be. Croatia in the fall is glorious, as you can see here.
Anyway, below are some photos of our pumpkin project. I think they turned out okay. Bill is going to go get some American candy, and hopefully our neighbors will ring the doorbell tomorrow night. Otherwise, I’ll end up doing what I do every year for Halloween, and eat all the candy myself. God knows, I don’t need to be doing that! Our jack o’lanterns aren’t very menacing. I’m not that good at pumpkin carving.
We have pretty nice weather today. The sun is out, and it’s not too cold. We probably ought to go out and do something fun, but Bill is still resting up after his bout with COVID. Except for a little fatigue, he’s fine now, and will be headed back to in person work tomorrow. Meanwhile, our sweet Arran continues to improve on the medication he’s getting for lymphoma. Yesterday, he even started jumping on the bed again. The chemo regimen is obviously doing some good for him as he enjoys what will probably be his last fall season. We continue to cherish our time with him and marvel at what a trouper he is. I’m grateful that we’ll be able to enjoy his company for a little bit longer.
Today is also the first day of standard time. Next week, everybody in the States who change the clocks will be moving their clocks back, too. I think if we have to change the clocks, it’s better to do it before Halloween. That way, it’s dark enough for a proper Trick or Treat experience. That’s how it was when I was a kid, anyway.
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