“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory." All Hallows eve went like this for me: Movies, deep conversation, all the sushi you can eat, thinking the night was over and getting into onsies, deciding the night wasn’t over and painting our faces, there were a few spiders, and saving a guy’s life. Yes, all in that order. How was your Halloween?
I’ve always looked forward to Halloween. Back home I looked forward to watching spooky (but not gory) Halloween movies. And if I’m being honest it was really movies like the classic Hocus Pocus. I loved the feeling of Autumn all around you even if the leaves weren’t quite changing color yet back in Texas. But it was just a feeling that you get and can’t see. It was there and I loved it. When I was younger I couldn’t wait to make my homemade costume (as I got older I usually procrastinated this until the actual day and ended up just throwing a sheet over me, cutting out whiles for my eyes, and going as a ghost) then head out and trick-or-treat with my family. We went out together, filled our bags with candy, laughed at each other and cried when someone stole our good candies. Then when we were done we would usually head home, dad would order a pizza then “check” our haul for any “suspicious” looking candies, and we would turn on another Halloween movie while we organized our candy and traded like professional barters to get the best haul we could. As I grew older this never changed for me. Even if I wasn’t dressed like a ghetto ghost, I was walking along the siblings and cousins that could still trick-or-treat and soaking in that Halloween night air. I didn’t want to go to the parties, Halloween (at least for me) was a family affair and I didn’t want it any other way. The seasons here are not hidden in any way. The weather here is colder, the trees have all changed into beautiful colors of oranges and reds, and there's no question Fall is here in Ireland. However, this Halloween was different, I didn’t go trick or treating however I did help my host family make the children’s costumes. And it cracked me up how much they actually took to the whole sewing routine. They have been sewing everything and anything they can since then. I did however have my friends and out here they basically are my family and the events that unfolded led up to a night I’ll probably never forget. And this is how it went…. My friends and I had just planned on staying in for movies and making homemade sushi. And that’s what we did, at first. I never in my life thought that Halloween night would be the time I learned how to make an Asian delicacy, but hey, there’s a first time for everything! I spent a good majority of the early evening laughing it up with my one of my best friends here Krystian (She is Australian) as she taught me how to make sushi. She is an expert. I learned the tricks to making the rice just perfect, and yes, you can go VERY wrong if you don’t know what you are doing. Trick-or-treaters came to the door and leave it to a bunch of young adults to forget to buy candy! We felt so bad! We would have offered the kids sushi if it would have held in their bags but you can see that wasn’t the best idea. Once we were filled with Sushi, and I mean FILLED, everyone just did their own thing. Some watched a movie, others talked, some even debated which is always interesting, and the night went on like every other weekend night. I guess that’s why it didn’t really feel like Halloween to me but I was with friends so it was okay. The weather here is starting to get colder, especially at night, and sometimes it can feel like you are a bear going into hibernation after you eat a big meal and all you want to do is sleep. So, some of us decided to call it a night, getting dressed in our onsie pajamas (that are REALLY big here) and getting ready for bed. But none of us felt like we weren’t ready for Halloween to end particularly when it felt like it never started. So, even though it was 10:45 pm we got up, painted our faces with our eye liners (I went with webs all over my face and spiders dripping down) and drove into the city. From what I have observed, Halloween is the biggest in the United States. I mean we take it to a whole new level. Here, it’s kind of just a holiday that some people will take part in. But what I realized as we drove into town is that anyone will take the opportunity to dress up. Everyone we saw was dressed up for a night on the town, which here usually means many of them were going to the clubs. My friends and I already decided that wasn’t something we wanted to do. I just wanted to be out and see what it was like. I was very surprised by the costumes some people had. Of course I saw the obvious witches and ghouls, but my favorites were the ones people actually had to put thought into like the Sanderson sisters, a group of friends dressed up as the little green toy soldiers from Toy Story, a few prisoners (which looked so convincing I could tell if they were actual escaped convicts), and some of the oddest costumes I had no idea what those people were. And when I asked them, they laughed and answered, “I have no idea.” Sometimes I forget where I am, that I am actually living in Ireland and I have to remind myself that the people here are different. The people of Ireland generally are very kind. Many of them will stop what they are doing to help you. For example, they will even stop and offer their assistance if you and your group of friends are trying to take a picture. We had several people offer and my first thought was, “Won’t they run off with the camera?” However, none of them did. Many of them stopped to ask us about our night, where we were heading, and parted saying they would catch up with us later, even when both groups knew we would never see each other again. It was so fun we made a game out of pretending to take a picture when someone walked by to see who would stop and who would keep walking. Saving a random guys life was a moment of chance. My friends and I were walking down the busiest street in downtown Limerick and the whole time I could feel someone watching us. When I turned around I noticed a guy dressed in a blue shirt, green tights, and a pink tutu walking after us. He didn’t look alarming, if anything he looked ridiculous, but he was definitely following us. When he finally noticed I was staring at him he called out to us “Ladies! Ladies!” and you can imagine him sounding like Captain Jack Sparrow, because that’s exactly what he sounded like. Needless to say this guy had had a few to many choice drinks and wasn’t all there. He asked us if we knew were a certain club was and we pointed him the right direction all while trying to slip away. We didn’t get away fast enough though, but I guess that was alright because he tried to be cool turning and saying, “I’ll see you ladies later,” and he didn’t even notice he was walking right in front of a moving car. All of us sane people with our wits about us reacted instantly, pulling him back just in time before our night turned into a real horror movie. He wasn’t even quite sure what happened and being the good people we are, we sent him down a very quiet car empty street. It probably wasn’t the best situation to be in, but I still think it was a good thing we were there. At least for him. Through the night what I realized was that I really wasn’t missing anything with the Halloween parties over the years. What makes Halloween fun is being with your family and friends and people that you can talk with instead of having to save their lives all night. Holidays are for memories and nights that you can actually remember, not hear about from someone else, and even though I didn’t get to trick-or-treat with my family, I made memories with the family I have here. In the moment I didn’t think that making rolls of sushi, getting dressed for bed then quickly getting dressed for town, painting spiders on my face, and saving a guy’s life would be a memorable night for me. But that’s the thing, we never really know we are making memories until the time has slipped away from us. I think Dr. Seuss said it best, “Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory."
1 Comment
Sis. Alcantara
12/6/2015 12:08:47 pm
Love your adventures!!! And missing you😆😄😊
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2016
Categories |