Countdown to Christmas

The countdown is on. It is officially US holiday season and I'm super excited, but also bummed that I'm not at home to celebrate with friends and family. If Halloween is any indication, I think it will be a great season. They don't really celebrate Halloween in Vietnam, but many shops in my neighborhood stock Halloween items for the Westerners who live in Tay Ho. You could find witch hats, skeletons to hang on your door, and various other trinkets to show your Halloween spirit. Costumes however were limited. As I had a Halloween party to go to, I had to figure out what in the world to dress up as that would be relatively easy to find the pieces for in a short period of time in Hanoi. As is par for the course for me, I waited until the last minute, the day of my party, to look for the missing pieces for a gypsy costume. Luckily, I found everything I needed to pull together a costume. Check out the pictures below for a picture of everyone in their costumes (I'm on the far left).

Happy Halloween!

It isn't Halloween without a Jack-O-Lantern. I hadn't seen any big orange pumpkins around, but my boss said they had some at a market near my house. Sure enough, they had pumpkins, but they aren't quite like the ones I'm used to. First, they aren't big and round, they are squat and smushed. And they aren't orange. They are more like a tan color with a hint of orange. Nevertheless, I was determined to carve a pumpkin for the party. After getting home and setting up my carving station, I got to work on the hardest pumpkin in history. The walls were so thick and so hard that I actually broke my knife. I also sliced my fingers, palm, and lost a fingernail in the process. A picture of my left hand would have been much better as a Halloween shot than the finished pumpkin!

Another great experience in Vietnam.

Group shot of everyone in the costumes.