Halloween!

Friends!

I can't believe I actually forgot to mention that last weekend we celebrated Halloween! (For the Dutchies: Halloween wordt in Amerika elk jaar op 31 oktober uitgebreid gevierd. Iedereen gaat dan verkleed de straat op en kinderen gaan de deuren langs om snoepjes te verzamelen.)

On Saturday, the boys and I went to a local farm, the Green Cow Farm, for their annual harvest festival. Well, I felt like I was back in the States, at one of the many Pumpkin/Halloween festivals that are always held around this time of year. The boys decorated pumpkins, tried some farm tools, did a sack race (zaklopen), ran through a corn maze, and just had a whole lot of fun (while Mom sampled the latest harvest wines! :-) )

Then, Saturday evening, Paul and I went to a Halloween party in the neighborhood. Paul dressed up as Van Gogh (why did we never think of that before? Just a bandage on the ear and a trickle of blood!) and I was a "Desperate Housewife of Beijing Riviera", just like on TV!

On Sunday it was really Halloween. The boys got dressed up in their pirate costumes ("Arrrr"), put on an eye patch and a hook, and at 5pm (just before dark) we hit the street. China obviously does not celebrate Halloween, but I have to tell you that outside the U.S., Beijing Riviera (our neighborhood) must have the biggest Halloween celebration ever. I've never seen so many people, let alone witches, vampires, skeletons, and pirates mob the neighborhood. At our own house, we ran out of candy in one hour.

On Monday, Halloween was over. The boys went to school, Paul dressed up like an office worker, and I entered my real life as a (not so) desperate housewife. It's funny, now that we are in Beijing, we have to keep up with three sets of national Holidays: the Dutch, the American, and the Chinese. I am starting to look forward to July 4!