Happy Halloween!

Alternate title: when language barriers work in your favor 🙂

The Philippines hasn’t traditionally celebrated Halloween (or so we were told) but recently it has started embracing the trend. It seems mostly commercially sponsored and promoted: clue 1: Trick or treating only seems to happen in the mall. It should be noted, though, that the malls here are like the town square. And I’ve started to understand why.

I’ll back up: we are staying in a Lovely apartment building. It is a 38 story complex with 4 towers. Below the complex, on the main level, is a full grocery store, sushi joints, ice cream shops, Starbucks, the coffee Bean, other restaurants and a full grocery store. The 5th floor (we were on the sixth) has a giant courtyard with a beautiful large pool, a green space, a playground, and a jogging path. It is beautiful and quiet and often breezy and fresh. This is all of note because when you step outside on the main floor, out into the sidewalk, it is NONE of these things. You find a sea of concrete, assailed by sewer smells along this one corner (what is with that?! They are so cleanly we saw them mopping the sidewalk! and yet the smell is trailhead toilet city) and our lovely apartment complex is on the corner of a giant intersection that is a cacophony of horns honking, motors rumbling, mufflers, and people selling feather dusters and back supporters. Exhaust is spewing from trucks, cars, motorcycles, scooters and tricycles and coats the concrete surfaces and vehicles and fills your lungs. One big thumbs up I’ll give is to the pedestrian overpassed so we at least don’t have to contend with dodging the traffic!

So this is why you go to the mall. Because you step inside and it’s cool, the air is clean and it smells like a mall. Or jollibees! They have playground areas for kids (for a fee), grocery stores, arcades, movie theaters and all the usual food court and shopping.

So…back to Halloween: the girls had varying ideas on costumes (what with limited improv gear) but mainly we thought we could make whatever work if we could get our hands on some Halloween makeup (then they could be the ghosts or zombies or princesses they wished). we were striking out on our own so we went into a department store and asked innocently enough, “Do you have Halloween makeup?” Near the cosmetic stands. We were led between the racks of products and handed off to another salesperson who proceeded to help Marion into a stool and started doing her make up. What followed was a 30-45 minute session including at times up to 7 or 8 salesladies giving their input and expertise while consulting phone images of zombies (what the girls requested) on their phones. It was beyond hilarious. And fantastic. The girls were thrilled and the makeup like a movie. The girls each had about 10 layers of makeup caked on, and that whitening makeup they have here came in handy trying to get authentic wan living dead.

What with such great makeup we decided a trip back home for costumes was unnecessary. The girls bravely went store to store with bright “trick or treats!” (Marion with a bit more enthusiasm as Alys, probably like her mom, has a harder time with the “no” and being awkwardly turned away by the many stores that DIDN’T have candy). But we coached them on the “that’s ok, thank you! Happy Halloween!” And Marion was a delightful sprite-y self in her delivery that everyone seemed happy even when turned down. But don’t worry, they weren’t turned down ALL the time, and they came home with a very adequate haul.

I thought I posted this a week or more ago, but apparently not. It was a solid Halloween in the books. Definitely memorable. Missing our friends back home and the get togethers and community of people we usually celebrate with. Being away it makes me realize that’s the magic of these Holidays. Or at least that’s how it feels. I don’t miss too much the decorating or food associated with the day, or the trips to the farms for requisite photo-ops and fun carving nights and seed roasting. Though I do like all those things, and as I list them and see the happy smiles in friends faces I perhaps miss them more than I think. And I relish noting the passing time as the girls do the same traditions with new ages and new eyes, even as it’s bittersweet. As I muse here I again find myself of two minds: missing the traditions of home while enjoying the freedom of not doing them; not feel beholden to rush to get it all done. But what I was getting at when I started babbling is that what I think I miss the most, what it feels like from this view… is that the holidays and check boxes are focal points of activity that are…or can be, the catalyst, the fun excuses, that force us/allow us to take the time to get together, be silly together, have fun together and enjoy each other’s company. We are doing so much fun and new and togetherness saturated silliness here that the nuclear family (thankfully) doesn’t seem to need these gems to stop and do the fun stuff. But what we don’t have is our friends and family back home. I love the Holidays. And I’m sure we’ll be doing as much of our usual Holiday traditions as we can (as PI permitted, and with a bit of pinoy flair too I hope) but it doesn’t replace our peeps. And that’s what I miss.

DRTL…Chad and I had to look this up, because we’re old. (seriously old: 1. we didn’t know it because I hardly use abbreviations even in text 2. I think we learned it from a crossword!) It’s text shorthand for “Didn’t read, too long” or maybe “don’t read, too long” and it can be used as an insult or just truth. I think I’ll have to use it for myself on both fronts.

Long story short: We’re doing great, major holiday 1 = fun, memorable, funny. Miss our friends and family loads!