Halloween in Russia

[keeblercrumb]

Let me step out side the important stuff for a minute.....

Today is Halloween in my homeland. And, not counting Detroit where I assume they continue to burn down abandoned houses (seriously, not cool), it is a wonderful holiday with no real religous or political significance and is all about letting kids of all ages dress up to be anything they want and go have strangers give them candy.

On many levels.... it is what is good about being human.

And so.... it is with some little pride that I tell you about the note in my Russian apartment building elevator this morning (okay, I had to have to translated... I was afraid they were turning off my water again).. At 9 o'clock tonight kids will be climbing up all 10 floors of my building to go trick and treating.

I love kids dressed up in costumes. And I will be at the door with loads of candy and treats.

On this day I am proud of this humble cultural gift we have given the world.

Happy Halloween, my friends.


-KC

 

[cloudy]

Very cool.

 

[keeblercrumb]

Very cool.

I have been here long enough to know you write the book on cool....
Thank you.



-KC

 

[Blackie Malone]

Very cool.

Ditto, let us know how it went.

 

[rgraham666]

Sweet. We overweaning Westerners do some good one in a while.

 

[gauchecritic]

Bah humbug.

Edited for gratuitous politics.

 

[Guest]

Love it, Big guy. Seems you're spreading love and joy wherever you travel these days.



We had a splendid evening with the kids.

Young son went as Optimus Prime - the extremely cool costume.
One of his friends was a skeleton, the other was a pirate. A pirate with chest bones exposed, of course.

Daughter went as a lawyer. We dressed her in a suit, tie, professional hair, earrings, glasses, gave her a briefcase.

And claws. And fangs.

To rend human flesh, of course.

One of her friends went dressed in regular clothes but wearing a huge cloth magnet around his neck with tiny little chickens attached.

You know, a chick magnet?

Interesting as the kids age their costume choices go from characters to sarcasm and wit.

Ah, the good old days.

 

[Xelebes]

Wat is Slaw praktizij'n Keltska ritszuals?


Jus' kidding.

Sounds like buckets of fun.

 

[keeblercrumb]

Report from the morning after:

Welllll Okay…. So call it is a concept not fully realized as yet.

Right after work, several of the girls in the office set up a “Halloween party” (Sigh…. Natalia in her “schoolgirl” outfit…. Best costume award!). It was cool, even if it was just another excuse to have a party. (We average one a week… birthdays, usually, but any occasion will do…). And wine and beer and vodka…… We even had “The Blair Witch Project” running on a screen… I regaled the staff with stories of my childhood Halloweens (when “trick or treat” was a serious threat if you didn’t want your windows “soaped” and the air let out of your tires), the great “pin in the apple” paranoia phase…(aka “the end of the innocence”), ghost stories around the campfire..(a universal tradition, it seems), carving pumpkins and the sheer delight of seeing kids all costumed up and wide eyed over a mound of candy.

And then… a quick run to the supermarket (a cultural transformation within my time here)…and home…and ohhh I was ready!

I had invested in a thousand rubles worth of candy… (that is about $40US, $35Canadian, 7.2 Euros.. and half a bob BPS..)(Uhhh do not bother to correct me… this is just how it feels at the moment)….. It filled two big bowls by my door. Just so nobody would miss the point, I put up a big “Happy Halloween” banner on my door…

And I waited.

Had a beer…

And waited.

Watched an episode of Mythbusters on the satellite….

And waited…

And then suddenly I realized the building access phone was buzzing…. I ran to the phone… but it was too late, they had hung up.

So another beer…

And I waited.


Finally….. about 11:00 after I had scrounged through the candy bowls to snag the M&M peanuts for myself….. the door bell rang… I sprang into action (in my mind, anyway… it probably was more like a labored slow stroll to the door)

And there were 5 or 6 11-13 y/o giggling sort-of- dressed-up girls with one holding a big empty reed basket out to me. There was even a pretty good English “Trick or Treat” from them mixed in with the giggling.

Well, of course, they struck tooth cavity heaven as I dumped my entire candy stash into the suddenly very full basket. And they all shrieked…. laughed hysterically more and scrambled down the hallway with one distinct…”I love you” echoing in the distant.

I went back to my chair and the last beer waiting for me there and thought about it.

Okay, it wasn’t much as far as kids and Halloween goes.

But it was enough.





-KC