Happy (belated) Halloween!

Third and final year as a Pumpkin!

We weren't sure what to expect for Halloween this year in Norway. Some of the stores were selling pumpkin decorations and spooky costumes, but none of the bagged up candy that you find in the US. I didn't find actual real pumpkins until the day before Halloween, and then bought a half rotten one for about $15, although I'm not even sure why. 


Greta was invited to a Halloween party on Saturday the 30th by one of the boys at the barnehage. Or, let me re-word that. A boy at the barnehage was hosting a Halloween party, and all of the children were invited. We dug out Greta's costume from the last two years, and agreed that she could squeeze into it for one last year. She was pretty darn excited about it, as you can see in the picture. 


The party itself was an interesting experience. We arrived expecting a house full of kids and their parents, but instead found four 5- year old boys and one 5-year old girl, and the boy's parents. None of the 2-, 3-, or 4-year old class. And no other parents. So, we hung around the house for a few hours talking with the parents, while Greta mostly watched the boys run around changing costumes every few minutes.


Social situations like these are challenging. It's important for me to hear as much Norwegian as possible, and interactions like a small party or conversations are few and far between, so I don't usually ask that people speak English for my benefit. But I end up feeling very anti-social and submissive (not to mention confused), as I rely on Erik to hold up "our" end of the conversation and I just smile, furrow my eyebrows, and nod. 


But back to Halloween. We live 2.5km up a steep steep hill, probably 3km from the nearest neighborhood, so we had absolutely no expectation that we would see any trick or treaters. I drove through town around 6pm and saw three small groups of trick or treaters--maybe 8 kids total, but no obvious signs which houses were prepared to hand out treats. 


We may need to plan an annual trip back to the US over Halloween, so Greta can get a good healthy dose of Halloween American-style. However, that coincides with Election Day, and I must admit that I did not miss the election media coverage and the angst that usually accompanies it.