The leaves were this beautiful for a few days and then we had some INSANE WIND come through…now the trees are very naked

Halloween in Romania is…not a thing…yet. I mean, it is kind of a thing, but only for parties in clubs and bars. I don’t think Romanians really grasp the spooky factor that is just so wonderful about ~Halloween~.

In my country, Halloween is an amazing time to celebrate the changing color of the trees and the cooling of the weather (ha – well, maybe in the past…nothing cool about Georgia now). Rusty leaves blow past skeleton trees in the dim streetlights. Days shorten and shadows move across dusty fields. Crisp air and brisk walks and apple cider…SIGH

Outside of ONIX station

We found these beauties in the market near Billa/Star

I’M GONNA CARVE YOU UP

Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween? On the first of October, I started looking for pumpkins and signs of spookiness. I found neither. That’s annoying because this city has so much spooky potential! Brasov would be an excellent place for a ghost tour (or better yet: ghost tour pub crawl!).

Eventually, I found pumpkins a few days before Halloween. I also found some friends to carve them with 🙂 Neither of them had ever carved a pumpkin before, so it was much fun all around.

eeewwww pumpkin guts

This was my second and derp-ier attempt at carving pumpkins

We also made other decorations:

three guesses who made the happy ghost

so spooky

I gathered the pine cones (surrounding the candle below) from Poiana Brasov. I think for Christmas I’ll spray paint them with some gold.

The day of Halloween I convinced Claudiu to take me to a cemetery. I don’t really think he likes them because he didn’t want to stay too long 😛

I love cemeteries because I like to read the headstones. The markers here sometimes have a picture of the deceased, so it really makes you curious about their lives. Right before we left, I found the saddest grave in the whole place:

It says:

“Under this cold rock, in this silent memorial lies what I had most dear on this earth!”

😦

For Halloween night, we stayed in, ordered pizza, and watched Crimson Peak. I think Crimson Peak is a good “scary” movie for people who don’t like horror or intense shocks. It gives you just enough to leave you unsettled.

Sadly, trick or treating doesn’t happen here, so no cute kiddos in costume ringing my doorbell 😥

awesome day full of traditions such as carving jack o lanterns and listening to kidz bop

…And now it’s November and I’m already sad thinking about Thanksgiving. I did hear that you can make Sarmale with minced turkey, so maybe I’ll see if I can celebrate some Thanksgiving here. I am kind of sad about not having so many holidays to celebrate. Boo 😦