Halloween Spanish-style...

Hola!
We had our Halloween celebration last night. Although it was a week delayed you would never know based on the enthusiasm of the kids. The weather that was so uncooperative last weekend was absolutely perfect for the festivities. It was chilly but not too cold.The courtyard between the buildings was set with food, drinks, games and goodies. They draped a massive spider web from the largest building down to the ends of the courtyard. The school is made up of several buildings. In the picture below the main building is to the right. Joe has classes up on the top floors of this building. Directly in the back is the elementary school. Jess is on the top floor of that building. And to the left of the picture is some of the remaining middle school classes that Andrea and Alexa have. The science building is behind the building that the web is draped from...and the high school classes, along with the art room is across the street.

Joe is in the mask. His friend Ben is from Ohio and his ancestors are from Czechoslovakia. Joe thinks that means they might be related.lol Note the lack of height difference between him and his friends...it's a nice change from the end of last year when his entire class was a head taller than him.

Joe and his friends at the goody table. They had bags of American candy. You can't get Hershey candies so no kisses, reeses or any of those on a regular basis. No tootsie rolls..no raisenettes...no most anything. Actually to make it easier what we can get here are M&M's and Nestle... anything Nestle because apparently they are a French company. Wasn't it a Nescafe plant that was near Freehold and filled the air with the unmistakable aroma of coffee when the wind blew the right way? Anyway, lots of Nestle. So, the bags had tons of treats that were very similar to an American trick or treat. Parents either bring it back for the event or have family send it so the kids can have a special taste of home.

Jess and her friends Elisa, Maria and Zenip. Elisa is her friend from Venezuela. Maria is from Switzerland and Zanip is from Turkey.

Here is Andrea in her "Twilight" Vampire costume...which apparently explains the blue design on her face...but I didn't read the books yet so I don't know. Andrea is with Maida and Lucia. Maida is from India and Lucia is from Spain.

These two girls are Josie and Jackie. They moved from Miami about a week before we moved. They live in the same town as us and the girls share the bus stop with us. Her Mom, Angela is one of my close friends here.

Alexa smiling for the camera..my little devil. She showed up at the table I was working at with a handful of candy corn. Add that to the list of candies you will not find here. We were in withdrawl. It's just not Halloween with out candy corn. So, Alexa knew I was missing them and dropped them off for me. Sweet taste of home.

Alexa hanging out with Karina, Jess's friend.

The man in the face paint is their gym teacher. That is his real hair.

Joe and two of his friends, Oscar and Ben. Oscar is Karina's brother.

Messing around...

Me, Jess and Alexa...waiting for Nick to pick us up at the end of the night.

It was a good time. The parents and teachers all dressed and helped make it a festive occassion for the kids. The highschool kids organized a haunted house in the drama room and a dance in the cafeteria. It was over at 9 pm. We walked back to the train station and took the train home. Thankfully Nick, who had up to this point been stuck in a meeting at work, was home and able to pick us up at the station.

We miss you all!