Hallowhat?

Sooooo - last week was Halloween, right? This was the first time I've spent said holiday in a country that doesn't buy into the concept of Halloween and it makes for an interesting time of getting around. There were parties, of course, but put on by expats primarily for the benefit of expats. Social parties on Halloween night, a party for children at the Embassy on Friday, and even a dog costume party at the housing compound. What made for the greatest 'stranger in a strange land" moment was getting to the party Saturday night. Margo and I were fairly uncertain of where to go, as were two other friends of ours, so we were invited to caravan with the one couple that knew what they were doing. We met at their house and took off in our three cars (originating from the housing compound, so we don't really stand out yet). But once we park in the heart of downtown (Skenderbeg Square, for anyone with a map), we suddenly look like this bunch of lunatics. Of the six of us, there were two pirates, a geisha (Margo), a viking, a Mexican (as offensive as it sounds), and a Pacman. Yours truly was said Pacman and said costume was A) huge, B) made to fit over my body, C) hastily made from a dozen cardboard boxes hours earlier, and D) restricted both leg and arm movement, so walking was a sort of walk/hop hybrid. Halloween night in the US? This is perfectly normal on the street. Halloween night in Albania? As far as 95% of Albanians are concerned, it's not Halloween night; it's just Saturday night. So to walk outside like this, people think you're absolutely crazy. The police, parking guards, doormen, cars driving by - all of them just stare or laugh or both.

And I have to say that while it's probably a more fun atmosphere back in the US when everyone thinks that it's a giant party night, it's a lot of fun to go out like this when people have no idea what you're doing.

Pumpkin's party was just what you might expect - maybe a dozen dogs wearing costumes that they hate for 5 minutes before finding ways to wriggle out of them. They recently built a dog-run on the Ridge (housing compound) so it was nice for him to have to place to run off-leash and play with other dogs. We recycled his dragon costume from last year and sadly he did not win the costume competition, but he still looked pretty awesome.