Yes, Halloween does "exist" here in Spain. Many popular bars & hang out places for students here were decorated this past weekend for the holiday with the cob webs & other typical Halloween decorations. This is mostly due to the amount of international students (especially Americans), so it's slowly infiltrated into Spanish culture. One of my Spanish friends told me that she once attempted to trick or treat in her apartment building - she had some luck, but was also yelled at by an elder gentleman who told her she was "UnSpanish" since Halloween is not traditionally celebrated in Spain. The grocery stores' candy supplies definitely don't compare to that of the US around this holiday. One grocery store I went into did have one or two very small displays of Halloween packaged candy, but still lacking. [Don't worry, I got a loving care package from my dear family full of Junior Mints, Reese's & candy corn along with other goodies, so I've had my American fix of candy!] My christian group here called En-Vivo usually has an event every Tuesday night, but this week was Día de Todos los Santos so we had a night of Pizza y Peli where we made pizzas & watched Monster House, an animated "scary" but funny child film from the US. It was even funnier because it was dubbed in Spanish - it was easy to understand, but comical nonetheless. They also had fun Halloween-esque food, like apples cut w/ peanuts as teeth and pumpkin pie (a very American food, for sure!). There was a costume contest, too! I have a pretty limited supply of clothes here, but luckily with Kylie's suggestion, I made use of what I have and dressed up as a magic 8 ball. I didn't know how it would be received because I didn't know if it actually exists in Spain. Long story short, a Spaniard informed me that they don't exist here BUT he & others knew what it was because of seeing it in movies & such. It was a fun celebration to get my Halloween fix in for the year!
Of course, being in Spain, we celebrated Día de Todos los Santos. It was Nov 1 and it's a national holiday...therefore, no classes! For my religion class, we had to visit the cemetery that day to witness the Spanish customs of bringing flowers & other things to the tombs of their loved ones. It was a mix between a somber & uplifting environment: rain pending, being in a cemetery with so many graves, yet with everyone coming together to remember the lives of their beloved family & friends who have passed away. It was an interesting experience, as I was able to compare the cemetery to how it was a month or so ago when we took a field trip there with my class. LOTS and lots more flowers & this time many more real ones. Lots of florist vendors outside of the graveyard & naturally a chocolatería (chocolate stand) selling churros, hot chocolate, circular bread that is special for only this holiday and other goodies.
On a more serious note, there has been somewhat of a scare in my family here. Last night around midnight lots and lots of commotion here - at least 4 times I heard the buzzer go off for over an hour with new nurses and doctors arriving for my señora's mom. It was unclear what was going on, but I didn't want to interrupt and interfere in any way. After things settled down after a long while and the voices disappeared, I ventured out of my room to make sure everything was OK. I found Isidro and he told me Teresa left with her mom to go to the hospital. She was having problems breathing & had a high blood pressure. Teresa didn't return until after noon today and she hadn't eaten or slept since the day before. I'm not totally sure how the public health care system works with the hospitals here, but she told me they had to wait a while to get her checked in and a doctor still hadn't been in to visit her and she'll probably have to stay at least a few days. Not long after a quick power nap & preparing lunch for us 3 she took off again to go be with her mom.
I was telling an IES staff member who is in charge of homestays about what happened and after expressing her concern, she asked me [jokingly] if I have bad luck. There really have been some tough life happenings since I've been here with deaths, health problems, hospital visits & a change in residents in the apartment with la abuela (grandma...regardless of the fact that she'd probably be more like a great-grandmother to me), bringing along with her 3 daily visits of nurses and the occasional visit from various family members. I responded to her that I think I was placed in this family for a reason. I'm trying my best to believe that God really did plan this all out because He knew that I could handle this and be there to support the family. She told me that if some other students had the same experience, they probably would have asked to change families or would become very stressed about the situation. Well, I think I know my secret weapon (**cough**trust in my God!***). Also, a lot of these incidents have really revealed to me my role in the family here. Although I'm not technically part of the family, I'm right there beside them through the thick and thin for these few months together. As Teresa apologized to me for all the commotion, she also told me, "This is life but you're a part of my family." I will happily accept those terms!
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