Ah Spain!

AI generated, please excuse any errors!

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[Music]
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[Music] Welcome to a Spain. Hi Gatano. How's it going? Buenos Diaz Tanya. It's going mucho
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bueno. Hey to So mucho bueno that you have a a Spain for us today.
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I do. It's a Yeah, it's an it's an a and an a. Well, it's an a Spain and a a
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gaitano. It's one of those it's not always a good thing about us,
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right? It's sometimes it's awful. I mean, sometimes we are human. And so, actually, the other day, okay, well,
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like a week ago, we went to Little, which we've talked about the little stores here before. And
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I went there and I was like, "Oh my god, guess what? They have pumpkins." And not a shocker, they usually have pumpkins at
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Halloween. Okay. Okay. But they're kind of small. So, I was like, "Oh, I'm going to get three
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for me and the girls. We'll have them for decorations, and we'll have them for Halloween to carve and roast pumpkin seeds and do all the things that we love
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and miss about Halloween in America." So, they're they're big enough to carve.
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Yeah, they're like the size of like not quite the size of a soccer ball and bigger than a softball. Between those
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two sizes. Okay. Yeah, I think I've seen those at Careful. That's kind of where we go. Yeah. Like you can carve a face, but you're
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not carving like a haunted castle in it. You're not getting really artistic in it. We usually paint We usually paint them
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or just use them as decoration until Blaze eats them. That's usually what happens. Well, I got Well, it's funny because I
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don't know about the ones that car for, but the ones that little, they have like jacko'lantern like face stickers on it.
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Like there's a a mouth and an eye so you have to carve them. And I'm like that's cheating. That's what that is.
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Totally cheating. And so any so I bought three of them for
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me and the girls and then we got invited to a friend's dinner party um last
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weekend and they were like don't bring anything. And I'm like I don't care if you tell me not to bring anything. I've
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got to bring something. And then I was like I don't have time to run to get a bottle of wine or something like that.
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And having in the house I was like oh they're Americans. I'll bring them a pumpkin. How cute is that? And like
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that's like you know that's a nice thing to do. And so we go bring the pumpkin. I'm like, "And I'll have time to get
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another pumpkin." So I go, they were like very, "Oh, thank you. A pumpkin. How great. We don't even have those."
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Well, um, yesterday Paloma and I went to Little to go shopping and I was like,
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"I'm going to replace that pumpkin." No pumpkins. All gone. No. And I don't think they're restocking
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them. I don't think so. No. I'm sorry. No, they're definitely not. When they're gone, they're gone. If you see them, buy
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them for sure. Yes. three was probably not enough. I know there's I know there's three of you, but that was
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optimistic to just have the three. And I will say also with that with that
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is that when I bought the pumpkins a week and a half ago, whenever it was, they had all this Halloween candy
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display like was like Wednesday related stuff. And now we're still a week and a half
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away from Halloween. And it was just a little dwindle. The little dwindling
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just a just a rejected corner of Halloween stuff. I'm like, "Oh, so you're definitely not restocking that
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either. Like it's Halloween's already over here. It hasn't been." Well, I think that kind of ties us into
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the episode because we're going to talk about Halloween and how or not you can find things. that I think you've sort of
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pointed out exactly one of the things which is that it's not so extensive that you can expect mounds and mounds of
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anything Halloween to be available up until the final hour. Right. Right. So maybe this is a what to
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expect in Halloween. Yes. That's the title of this episode. What not to expect or what not to expect
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or how not to have expectations for Halloween. Yes.
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Well, I'm sorry, but I may You should try maybe Care 4. You might get lucky. They might have Well, I do need to go down to Car
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because that's where I get my ocean spray cranberry um juice and we're out. So, maybe I'll make a trip down there
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later. Give that a shot. You never know. You never know. Or if I find them outside of the city, I'll let you know when to go get them.
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Okay, great. Oh, now I'm going to get one for you. No, I see how you are. Cuz the chances of me dragging it into
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the city between now and Halloween are probably pretty slim. That's how good of a friend I am.
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She's amazing, isn't she? Ladies and gentlemen, such a sweetheart.
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Uh, let me just say, I didn't bring her the pumpkin either. So, there you go. Well, that's true. But it was really
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nice of you to bring a pumpkin. That was a good that was a good gift to bring for a for a dinner like I think.
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Thank you. Time of year. It's always nice to be creative, don't you think? I think so. It was a pleasant surprise,
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you know. So, at what point are you and your girls or you're going to be sending the girls over to secretly go and steal
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those pumpkins back? Well, they live in a far away town that we have to take a cab to. Okay.
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So, I mean, they're going to keep the pumpkin. I mean, we still have two in our house, but one of us will not be
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carving. One of us will not have a I mean, it'll probably be me, too. I won't be able to carve. That's okay.
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I will say I have not yet um found pumpkins here that are carb really carb
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like to that size. Yeah. So we don't usually do what we did in America which is you know pull all the stuff out,
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roast the seeds, carve something and have it be a massive fail or a massive success. That kind of experience is we
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haven't had that here so much. But you know lots of other fun things to do. So, well, I will say we do carve them and we
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roast the seeds and it's it is worth it. But you're getting like a cat face smiley. That's about it.
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And three seeds. No, actually they do have a lot of seeds. So, I will say when you cut into
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them, don't be misled by the size of the pumpkin. They are still They are They're still good.
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Yeah, they still have a a copious amount of seeds inside. Well, that's good to know. So we could jump we could go into the background I
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suppose of what happens actually in Spain around this time of year because we have history other things. Yeah, we
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have other things happening as always. There is not a weekend that there isn't some kind of festival in Spain. So like
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all all the other weekends in the year, there's other stuff going on around Halloween or a Tuesday. Don't limit it just to the
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weekend, just the Tuesday. And I guess we could preface this that Halloween is a newer thing in Spain as we we we can
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gather it's a traditionally American thing that's kind of spreading about. But they did have celebrations. You
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know, it's like Halloween was begat from these celebrations that now Halloween is
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coming back to right history kind of thing. It's kind of like the celebrations around Halloween that have
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nothing to do with anything like trick-or-treating and things are coming are starting to sort of
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peak up around in different areas here and definitely rel relative to where you live in Spain and how big the city is
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and that type of thing will probably depict on how much Halloween stuff is going on for sure. So besides the
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Halloween, the other holidays we have here are the All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2nd.
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So, you've got like you're you're just starting on Halloween and then you've got more to do, right?
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And I mean, and and that's where Halloween came from, right? It's the Hallows Eve. It's the Eve before the
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Saints. So, but they're really celebrating the saints day more, the souls and the saints.
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They really are celebrating those more as kind of a universal thing. But, you know, and that those those kind of
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holidays are I think um kind of more about visiting your deceased family
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members, going to the cemetery, bringing flowers. I would I mean I haven't personally experienced a lot of celebrations around this myself.
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Um but we don't have family here, so that might be something that's really celebrated within families more perhaps,
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right? I mean, I think it's a much more somber experience, right? That it's it's to remember those. But they probably
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have fireworks too, don't they? I don't know. We'll find out. Oh my god.
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So anyway, lots of things sort of going on related, but definitely I would say
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since I've been here, I mean, we've been here 5 years now, and the exponential
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growth of the amount of stuff you can get, the costumes, the decorations, the amount of more trick-or-treating events
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that you can get yourselves into have increased tremendously. And the size of
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the ones that existed have increased tremendously, too. So yeah,
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I would agree because in the two years now this is our third Halloween, the the the the mere pittance that was at the
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Chinese store when we first arrived to the plethora of things that are there now in just a very short time is pretty
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indicative of what's going on. I remember when we first arrived like the Flying Tiger, that's the story, right?
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The Flying Tiger, they had all the good Halloween decorations, but that was like the only place I could find a bunch. And now
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literally all the Chinese stores in my neighborhood have different like you can go to five different Chinese stores and they all have different stuff too,
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right? They have aisles of stuff plus the costumes and and everything. So it's definitely and then I've seen too now
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which has which has a huge difference. If you go to Leroy Merlin, which is like you know the Home Depot, the big
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hardware store, like they now sell like these giant Halloweeny Oh, like those like giant werewolves and
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things that people buy there. I think I've seen them. I think it's there. I've seen now something that absolutely did I did not see and this
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might be something that was happening in like Madrid and bigger cities that wasn't happening here yet. But the idea
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of people decorating their houses and having these like you were just saying these life-size um whatever they are um
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skeletons and scary ghouly things that did not exist. So if you wanted to decorate your house
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outside the outside of your house there wasn't really a lot that you could do. And now like Gy I don't know. Do you
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know Gy? That's kind of like a Teddy type place. And No, I don't think I know this place of which you speak.
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It's so It's very cool. It's kind of It's like Are they in the city or is it a more of a suburban thing? No, it's definitely
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out here. And it's like a big the big store and you have everything from, you
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know, um curtains and blankets and to like lamps and and tablecloths and and
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table wear and like and then they have a massive section for Halloween and a
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massive section for Christmas. Now, obviously the Christmas section takes up like half the store,
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but the Halloween section over the years is now taking up like a quarter of the store. And that's where you can also buy
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like the things that you can project lights onto your house. Like so it's really that's now a place that you could
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literally get everything as well and you can decorate cuz when I first got here you couldn't decorate the outside of
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your house. I mean you wouldn't have even found it on on like Amazon I don't think. So very different. Well, I will
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have to say it's kind of funny, too, because you now can decorate the outside of your house, but for the most part,
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most of people's houses are behind gates, which I mean, you're decorating it for yourself and the people you're
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having. Yeah. But you're not doing it to show off. Like in America, everyone's doing their house. Who's got the best house on the street here? You wouldn't
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be able to tell. You might see the head of a werewolf over someone's gate or wall. And then I think also, I mean, it's like
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you wouldn't do that at Christmas either. Like there just isn't that like I I've had that experience in England
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where if a if a house is decorated I would be like oh well that's obviously an American that lives in that house cuz
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no one else is doing that and then oh in England they don't do like the lights around the windows. I mean they do a little bit but the to the extent
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that Americans do it I think it's changed now but like maybe sort of 10 years ago or so like especially where my
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parents live which is a small place people might decorate a little bit in town but outside of town no one's really
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doing and then there would be this one house that's lit up that you can see from space and it's like oh Bob Smith
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clearly so like like there there hasn't been a culture really in I think England or in Spain where you which we used to
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do when when we lived in America, which is get in the car and drive around to all the Christmas decorations, and I
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love that. And then where we lived in Alexandria um for Halloween, you just walk out and every house is decorated. I
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mean, if your house isn't decorated, you are Scrooge. That's it, right? It's just no way, you know.
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Yeah, it's it's it's become quite the money-making industry for those for the people selling the stuff, for sure.
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Did you bring decorations over with you when you moved? We like we brought one and I will say
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I'm mad because we we like I you know like I've said before we purge like 95% of our stuff and I was like I'm not
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bringing over a plastic arm and a plastic hand like that's just going to take up space in our shipping stuff and
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I was like oh we'll be able to get that there. And then when first when we first arrived and our first holiday,
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we got like we got some spider webs and but no no severed arms that you needed to hang. And I will say I from my
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experience, we've been maybe slightly more attached to Christmas decorations than you are to Halloween decorations.
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Like Well, we brought all our Christmas decorations. Yeah. See? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Halloweens are more like fun and silly
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and and whatever, right? And they're cheap and they're not heirloomy. Like the Christmas ones are
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heirloomy. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. And so we're slowly collecting, but not
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so much cuz my kids are older. They're I mean they're not I I'm like forcing them to
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celebrate Halloween this year. Really? No, Zena loves Halloween. So the thing is this year we're moving and I we're not So what we usually do and what
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we've done since the beginning is we would always throw a Halloween party because that was the only way to really
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get all of her friends and a bunch of people into costumes and having a party and we would just decorate the house and
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do some ghouly things and make all which I love make all the Halloween food you know the severed fingers and all this
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kind of I love all that stuff. So that was what we did because there was nowhere to go outside of the city for
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anything like that. So we would create a party and it was very popular and really really fun and we had a mix of
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foreigners and Spanish. I actually would throw it with a Spanish friend. So we would just like we it was really loads
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and loads of fun and that's what we would do to kind of get because we otherwise we wouldn't have had a
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Halloween experience here at all and that now is changing I think a little. I
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mean, so obviously as everyone knows, we live in the city and there is a big celebration here, trick-or-treating
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thing that was started by foreigners that organize it and there's like a GoFundMe page and they ask for people to
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make a donation, but it started small. It started it may have. I mean, the three
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years we've been here, the three Halloweens we've been there, it's huge. Well, last year unfortunately, you know, it wasn't huge because of the
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Dana um and it was canled and postponed and all that stuff. But our first year, I will say Paloma was Paloma and I did
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it trick-or-treating. Omar had a sleepover in the suburbs and she had a bust. There was like supposed to be some
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expats doing trick-or-treating and they her and her friends had a sleepover and they all went to the houses and I don't
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know if they forgot the map or what, but they couldn't find any of the houses. So they were just these five kids roaming
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the neighborhood in costumes. That's can be kind of creepy, right?
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Totally creepy. It's his own kind of creepy. And so Paloma was with me in the city
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and I was like, "Let's do it." And she was a little bummed because she was like it was didn't know what it was going to
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be like and wasn't going to be America and and we've never lived in like a city
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city like LA is not a city. LA's are just a giant suburban spraw bunch of little towns.
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And so we got to Rousafa and I was like, "Well, I don't know how it's going to be either." So Sean's questioning it. And
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then once we got into Rousafa and the amount of kids and the crowds and the liveless and it was very much there's a
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pub crawl going on and then there's kids trick-or-treating. Oh, that's nice. You got the two things going on at the
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same time. It was It felt like Marty Gro. It was so festive and our neighborhood's so quiet cuz it's not going here. And we
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literally crossed the street into Rousafa and it was like a it was a total mad mayhem but fun and she came out with
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you know not a bag as full of candy as she's has been used to but she was like dad I really like
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Halloween here. So it was nice that she still got the experience granted different smaller
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scale but it was also different because it was a whole new experience. So, it was still fun and it was like she got to
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see and she saw kids from her school and yeah, I didn't know what to expect how it was
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going to be and I was I had a great time, too. I mean, I loved it cuz it they do it where it's
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the shop owners they they they have gotten shop owners involved and they actually give the candy to the shop
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owners and then they have stands like at benches and apartment building doors.
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They'll have tables set up and then they have like a Google map thing that once you've donated, they let you have the
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map and you know where you're stopping along the way. And it's really great and it's it's it I
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it's really a sense of community. And what's really cute because it is a newer thing here.
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How cute the shop owners are in it. Like they're like so excited by because it is it's like it's new. Like what is this
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weird thing that they didn't grow up having? I love that they I love that they started that and that it has
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actually grown into such a thing because we haven't really there's been a couple
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like our urbanization completely organized by the Spanish people in it um
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had started a little Halloween trick or treat which was really really cute but it was very small and it was like six or
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seven houses that actually went to the effort of decorating their houses cuz they knew they were going to be on the on one of the Halloween stops, right?
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One of the trick-or- treat stops. And then and then they they didn't they didn't have like bag like bowls of candy
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for you to dip your hand in. They just had like little bags. So they did like a little parade. Everyone got dressed up and then they paraded like the kids from
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house to house. So all the kids came at one time to each house and then then you were done.
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Well that makes it convenient for the people like closeup shop. We're done. Exactly. So but that was kind of like I
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think a nice way of people to do it when it's not everybody doing it right. because you can't just be letting all
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the kids run around whenever they feel like it because so that worked out really well. And then they did a a little tunnel of terror
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in the like the in the rec center part of the urbanization and that was like
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super super fun and it was did they have like where people like dressed up as monsters and like spooking
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around people were getting involved and the and the guy that was organized it looked like he had been massacred already, you
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know? So they were really just so got into it and it was really really fun and it was like a level of scariness that
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was good for like a fiveyear-old and good for me too.
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I'm very pathetic. I can't handle it at all. But I thought I don't know if we mentioned it to the public but um Tanya and our version of
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what is a scary movie are in completely different levels. No, no, no. It's um I don't watch scary
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movies. That's it. Period. And I don't Yeah. Don't understand it.
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It is a part of your personality that I will I'm sorry I don't understand but I will never
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and it's a it's a family personality because we're all into the scary movies here. Oh my gosh. No, I wouldn't be able to
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sleep. But yeah, so I think it's it's like increasing which is lovely. And we're going to have to find something to
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do this year. Like I said, we're moving, so I don't know what we're going to be doing. Can we just put a Let's just take a little side note here and congratulate
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you um on moving. Well, we haven't moved yet.
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We're still We are still in the throws of it and my brain is still about to explode every second of the day.
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Well, congratulations on selling your home and buying a new one. And I I would
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like to think you did it selfishly for our show because now you're going to bring a different experience because
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you're moving want to tell everyone you're moving off the mountain side, aren't you? You are moving off the mountain. Yeah.
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So, we're going to see. We just want to be a little bit more in the thick of it, you know, with things to do and we're
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going to, you know, see see how it differs. I mean, we've actually lived in this town before before we moved up the mountain.
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So, it's not totally new, but it's going to be fun. But it but it was co when you lived there. So, you don't know if people
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actually lived and walked on the street. So, now it's going to be not a lot of people in walking around the town. That's true.
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Yeah. So, congratulations. So, I'm excited for you and I'm excited for what you're going to be able to tell us in the
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future. What's what's what life is like in a village versus a mountain town.
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Yes. So, we will now we can no longer make fun of you as our mountain friends, you know. Yeah. But we're still the people outside
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of the city compared to you city folk. So, you we can still make fun of each other. I don't think that'll ever end.
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She's so small town. There you go. Exactly.
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Oh my goodness. [Music]
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[Music] Back to Halloween. So, speaking of small towns, I guess,
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um, one of the places that we always go for, um, costumes is a place called
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Ducaval, which is in a little town, um, Venalissa, which is outside of the city
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a little bit. I don't I know that town. you. Yeah, it's kind of nearestish Masa McGreel in Monata and
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they have this super party store. So, if you want anything party, they have like colorcoordinated plates and cups and all
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these sort of things, candy, and then they have, you know, for every type of holiday, they have they they redecorate,
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they redo the aisles for that. So, there'll be there's lots of sort of Halloweeny stuff and lots of Christmasy
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stuff whenever those those things come along. But the whole back of the store is a massive other store of costumes. So
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it is the best costume place for everything. Yeah. And
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now is it are the costumes because I have only seen you pretty lowbudget
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spirit Halloween type costume. It's pretty much I mean it is it's just more than you'll find at the Chinese
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store. So it's I mean I think all costumes are pretty lowbudget in general by nature because it's a one-time thing.
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Unless it's growing. Maybe we should start a business of you know those real nice rentals. Yeah,
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but I mean of course costumes and so your I believe well more speaking
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from the experience of living in LA where you have so much like theater like rental places where you can get really
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really really really cool things and I the movie costume rental places. Yeah, it's special to LA I think. And I don't
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I mean I I don't know for sure. I never tried to rent a costume to New York. Those cities have that that industry as
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well for sure. But you're not finding it in like some tiny little place somewhere. So, but yes, so absolutely
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we're still talking the the prepackaged things, but they will have a whole aisle for kids up until age four and then a
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whole aisle for older kids and a whole aisle for adults. So, it's like and then they've got all the accessories, you
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know, like just a a dagger or whatever it is you need sort of thing. So, it's
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it's a really good place for everything party including the including the costumes. So, that's one of our favorite
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places to go browse before Halloween and see what we want to dress up at. All of us because we all Well, not Jad, but the
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rest of us want to dress up, right? I still want to dress up even if I'm not allowed to dress up because
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Why would you not be allowed to dress up? Because Yeah. They're teenagers and I'm I'm just I breathe and it's embarrassing.
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So, you might as well dress up if all you have to do is breathe, right? Um, and I will say here too, the Chinese
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stores I've said, they they've grown the the the the selection has grown and there are the costumes. And what I've
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also noticed this year versus the other years, now they're they're up marketing
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the decorations. They had like a a mutilated toddler looking thing
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and maybe a bowl maybe a bowl with like a hand that comes out and screams at you or something. Yeah. But this thing was 85. I was like,
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"Okay, this is now they're expecting people to have really taken on to Halloween here to start selling that." I
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mean, I can sell I can see taking a risk on a a one one50 severed hand, but when
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you're starting to stock this the shop with 85 euro mutilated toddlers, are you looking at are you talking about
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the Chinese store like in Bol or the ones in the city? No, like around the corner. the one right around the corner in the city
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which is it's a more upscale Chinese store as they go. But I mean that's it's
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not that upscale. But speaking of Pusoul, I was up there a couple weeks ago and I I was there for a
24:59
meeting and I was a little early. So I'm like I'm going to roam around for a second and I walked into I want to say
25:06
the place is called like Pusole Bazaar or Bizaar Pole. That's probably right because the other one's called Humley which also is you
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need to go to the to Hum next time. I know it's called homely or homaly. I don't know how you say it. Okay. And it it was like not really a
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Chinese sort. It's more of a bizarre, right? Because I've seen some of these in the suburbs. It's not so everything,
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right? It's not so Well, what they do, the reason why they're not everything is because when you get out into the suburbs, like Busousel probably has like three or four
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at least of them. So, what they tend to do is then specialize. Like if you want gardening stuff, they all have a little
25:37
bit of everything, but this one will be more gardening and this one will be more Halloween and this one will be more whatever,
25:42
more home. This one seemed much more home, but when I walked in, they had this huge, which you're talking about,
25:48
huge section of Halloween that I hadn't seen. And the city hadn't started stocking Halloween yet, cuz this was a
25:54
couple weeks ago. And so I walked in there, I was like, this place. I'm like, I didn't bring a big enough bag to take
26:00
any of this back into the city. I'm sure they'll sell you a bag. I'm sure that wouldn't be a problem. Yes. But I didn't need to carry it. I
26:06
didn't need to walk into my meeting with a severed arm. And so you're no fun.
26:12
But then now there's, you know, then the city started stocking up and now I'm like, this is a lot more than last year
26:18
and last year was a lot more than the year before. So it is nice to see how it's it's growing and
26:26
my Spanish friends are asking me about it and they want to know what about the trick-or-treating. Like they all knew,
26:32
they actually are the ones who told me about the trick-or-treating, but now they're asking me what are the rules and where's the because there's like, like I
26:38
said before, there's a GoFundMe page. I think I said, right? Did I say that? There's a GoFundMe page and but you can also so when they very very
26:45
first started which may have been around when we got here I'm not sure if they were going on before co maybe a little
26:51
bit they it was like just bring a bag of candy right and then I think it expanded to you know people sometimes showing up
26:58
and not participating in in giving candy and stuff. So they tried to make it easier I think by saying if you'll
27:03
really just then at least give the money so we can go buy the candy if you can't pull that together which is fine. So trying
27:10
to make it easy because they really are it's like it's a whole bunch of individuals putting this together out of
27:15
the kindness of their heart. So you know if you're going to participate definitely they want people to also give
27:21
the candy and help or pay. Right. Right. Yeah. And and and they don't ask for much and the GoFundMe was like
27:26
please donate€5. And what I think is great about that and I and I've seen people do this in other
27:32
cities. So, if you live around Spain, check check your Facebook WhatsApp groups or if you're moving here, see if
27:37
they are doing trick-or-treating Halloween things because I think if especially in your larger expat community cities, yeah, there'll be something cuz that's
27:44
the other thing with the with the Halloween candy like we've seen um like in the local supermarket,
27:50
they'll have like a tiny little section where they have a bag of pre of of uh prepackaged like, you know, packaged
27:56
candy and stuff and you can buy a bag of that in all these places, but there isn't an extensive massive amount of
28:03
like mini Mars bars and mini candies and pre all like you there's not an aisle of
28:09
stuff that can be put into Halloween bowls. There's really very little. So
28:14
that's the other problem, right? And that has also expanded, but that is also a problem of that you're going to get
28:20
the same candy everywhere cuz it's just one bag of prepackaged candy. It's a very limited supply. And what
28:28
these what the people that do in for the Valencia one is, you know, I personally
28:33
would recommend people, this is me, no one's telling me this, this is my own personal opinion, donate the money
28:38
because they go up to like Madrid Costco and stock up there and then bring it down. So if you're bringing candy,
28:44
you're bringing it the day of and then they then someone has to take it to a stand that might be low. So, if you can
28:51
and see if it's the donating good because then they know what to buy and and and bring it. And yes, that was the
28:58
bummer is it's not we're not getting our three musketeers and and stickers and those things. And but what was also on
29:05
the side note an adorable thing to me was like oh is this one shot this one
29:13
restaurant that was participating in it. the the the man who owned it was so excited and he had made the candy and it
29:20
was like these little marshmallows lovely and it was so cute. But then he put them like from like the cookie sheet
29:26
into the bags and I was like, "Oh, but they're not wrapped." So when we got it home, they were all covered in like the bag lit. We're like, "Next year he'll
29:32
get it." But it was so sweet cuz it was sweet to see how people were excited and you know, then you had the pub crawl
29:38
people also, you know, doing their thing, but they were so cute looking at the kids, you know. It was cute to see.
29:44
The pub crawl people were being like respectful of the situation. It was they were being okay, good. Just want to make
29:50
sure, you know, cuz it's over by 9:00, so it's too early for the pub call people to have gotten messy, right? Hopefully.
29:55
You know, that's so funny. No, I think it's really it's really expanding and it's fun
30:02
because we we lived in where we lived in Alexandria was the quintessential
30:07
American experience of what Halloween looks like on the movies, right? And then we moved here and it was like, "Oh,
30:13
we need to throw a party because we're like otherwise we're not going to be experiencing this at all." And it's
30:20
really nice to see it expand and and really everybody get into it. You know, it might be instigated by by foreigners
30:27
bringing over here and movies and things, but there's been I can see like a real excitement from the Spanish
30:35
people in the areas that we have lived to to also give their kids a little bit of Halloween fun. And then the parents
30:41
really getting because it's fun to get dressed up. I was telling you I think that time I came to visit you one day
30:46
and we we got home relatively late in um on the metro out and we ended up when we
30:53
got off the metro it wasn't Halloween. It was like March or something and
30:58
everybody in the town was dressed up because if it was Halloween of course it's Spain. So when I tried to
31:03
go find out what was going on I couldn't find any articles or anything about what this thing was. So I have no idea. So
31:11
which if you haven't noticed from us before, we will often say you will have no way idea of finding out what's going
31:16
on as it's happening because the Spaniards just know what's happening and if you want to know, you're not going to
31:22
you might know for next year. I will often get like I'll follow the, you know, the Facebook page of our town or
31:27
something and they'll be like, "Look how much fun we had last night." I was like, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have been there."
31:33
Like I followed their WhatsApp group. You could have put like a thing, hey, it's happening tomorrow. But I have no idea what this holiday was, but it
31:40
looked like people were dressed up like for Halloween in all different types of costumes. So there is some holidays here
31:46
that did that are obviously making use of these um costume shops even outside
31:51
of Halloween. So they do exist for other things as well as so they can just expand a little bit and now obviously
31:57
the Chinese stores have really got on board at this time of year which is fun. Now, you've been in a couple schools
32:04
here. Are have either of your schools because my girls attend one of the British
32:09
schools and they don't celebrate Halloween at all. I mean, the kids are like they're having sleepovers and doing
32:15
things, but the school itself doesn't have a sanction thing or wear a costume has either of the schools.
32:20
But you have a uniform, too. So that would be a big change to be like today you not only do you not have to wear a
32:26
uniform but you can also come in as the devil would probably be they have not they do have non-uniform
32:33
days during the year. So yeah. Yeah. They're not always I mean it's like three two or three they have non-uniform
32:39
days and then I think some of the classes will win a non-uniform day. So
32:44
there might be a group of kids without a uniform because their class got a bunch of high levels or did something. So
32:49
there's competitions. That's a tangent. Now, back to Halloween. Back to Halloween and back to school.
32:55
So, in we were in an American school and they So, as we've if you've listened to
33:00
our school episode, you'll know that you can start your kid at zeroish and they go all the way to the end in most of
33:06
these international schools. And so with the young kids in the school that we
33:12
were at, they would have they you could dress up and they would have like a mini little parade with the little kids
33:17
around the and do like I think some form of trick-or-treating to each of the classrooms and stuff. But then
33:23
Oh, sweet. Yeah. So it was like super cute and they did it I think through elementary school and then once Zena got into middle
33:29
school she was like why aren't we allowed to do it anymore? Like it's not. But they were allowed to come to school dressed up. But of course it kind of the
33:36
enthusiasm waines because you get too cool and what you can dress up as. And I'm too cool to have fun. Mom,
33:42
but Zena loves dressing up and we I mean we love it and I love to do face painting and I have my whole face
33:48
painting set. So I love to do like cool face stuff and and so she would loved getting dressed
33:54
up and going to school and that was absolutely allowed. But they we also didn't have a uniform there. So it was just like what's going to stop? They
34:00
just had a very they had very few rules which was I think you're not allowed to bring like fake weapons. I think that
34:05
was the only thing that was like a rule otherwise you know come in something that's not going to don't come but I
34:11
mean people would come dressed as like these giant blow up like cows and things. Yeah. I mean they were like
34:17
really Yeah. like really having like there was a group even once Zena got into middle school. It was like there's
34:23
definitely always a group of kids in each class that wants to just go for it and they're happy to, right? And then
34:28
others that are too cool for it. So, it starts to diminish a little bit as they get older, but they're all allowed to and that was really really fun.
34:34
So, we we enjoyed that. But in the new school, that remains to be seen. It's not Halloween yet. I doubt that they're
34:40
I doubt that we now have a uniform, too. So, I very much doubt that there's going to be Well, and I doubt it, too, because
34:45
Halloween I mean, it's not Halloween yet, but it is very soon. So, well, again, we'd like to say they should have
34:52
mentioned it by now, but they may mention what happened on Halloween 2 days after Halloween, you know, in school.
34:58
So, we Yeah. So, we had a I think they did a really cute job with especially the younger kids to try and give that
35:04
kind of experience. So, that that was fun. That's cute. That's cute. So, I think
35:10
something we've we've got to mention too, which is kind of cool, we haven't done this yet because there isn't one
35:17
like nearby is that the amusement parks here kind of do it America style or what
35:23
we're used to in America style, which is we have some very large theme parks in Spain and they do the Halloween nights
35:30
and the spooky parades and all of those. And you haven't been to because we haven't been to any of the any of the
35:36
amusement parks or theme parks either. So, I don't even know what they're like outside of Halloween, but when I went to
35:41
their websites and I was looking at the the pictures did give me the impression that they were going to be providing
35:46
something really cool. So, my oldest daughter has been to Park Warner, which is like the Universal
35:53
Studios type. It's a large I mean, it's got the upside down roller coasters and all that kind of stuff. So, she's been
35:59
like it's an American style or I hate to say American style cuz it's not it's not American style. It is It is a large
36:05
theme park amusement park. And that's near Madrid. at one that's in yeah it's right outside of Madrid and that's huge what they do
36:12
there which I think is which I've read about and I've heard about too is they do the scary nights which is more adult
36:18
based so they have like you can bring kids in costume for like a month I think all these amusement parks
36:24
do it for like in in back what we're used to it's a month-long celebration the parades are themed holiday
36:29
oh yeah that's true because they're not going to put it on for one night so these theme parks are doing things for longer right like
36:36
right and if they have parades They'll be themed in the for Halloween and that sounds like scary mazes.
36:42
That sounds a lot like what's going on at Port Adventure as well. The similarish you think?
36:47
No, I think it's very similar. And Port of Ventura is a much bigger theme park. Like Port Ventura is like a Disney World
36:52
type theme park here. It's like Warner Madrid is big but small where Port of
36:57
Ventura is like four I think it's like three amusement parks and tons of hotels. Like it's a it's a place you go
37:03
for a week. And I would say that's probably about the same distance cuz that's in Tarragona. So that's probably several hours in that direction and then
37:09
Madrid's several hours there. So that's probably Yeah, they're not very similar. Um but yeah,
37:15
to get to from here it is for sure. But what Park Warner does is they have they have a scary night thing and I don't
37:22
know if you ever did that at Universal in LA. Okay. Again, have you met me?
37:28
Does it seem like something I would have done? I guess I should have paid attention earlier. So, you haven't done it, but maybe your friends have told you about
37:34
it where like it's scary. Like there's like people with like, you know, machetes coming at you when you're
37:39
running. It's really Yeah, you're not doing that. Well, they do that at Park Warner and that goes on until like 3 to
37:45
5 in the morning. Like on the Halloween night, it goes on really late. It doesn't start until 10:00. And at that
37:51
one, they even have the rides going open rides going until
37:56
But I have to say in researching this, I went to their website and they're like, you know, children over 12 should be
38:02
accompanied by an under 12 should be accompanied by an adult. So, wait, under
38:07
12? I was like, so a 13year-old could just stay out till 5:00 a.m. being chased around by
38:14
probably. I mean, it's a park, I guess. Oh, Spain. Oh my god. Well, and also funny that you mentioned that because when I was
38:20
looking for stuff, they do have also like Halloween escape rooms and I saw
38:25
that and I was like, "Oh, an escape room. I've wanted to do one of those and I was like, "Oh, a Halloween one would that sounds fun." And then I was like,
38:31
"No, it doesn't. That sounds way too for me." So, I don't know what I was
38:37
thinking as I was reading it. I was I sort of had this moment of like, "Oh, yeah. I want to do this." And then I was
38:42
thinking maybe in Spain something like that might be less scary than it is. And
38:47
it might be a little less than it is in America. Possibly maybe and I could handle it, but I don't know.
38:52
I don't think they at Park Warner or maybe Port Adventure World, but maybe at one of these smaller ones. No, like the escape room I'm talking
38:58
about, which is going to be like the separate escape room. That's a separate escape room. Yeah. Those are the ones that are doing them
39:03
in the city and stuff. And I was thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, small place. Maybe I can handle that. But Zena went
39:09
to one for somebody's birthday. She went to like a Halloween escape room. And of
39:15
course, we're all well, I'm not going to speak for Jawad, but me and Zena are more all in the same realm of not really wanting to be scared that much. And she
39:21
said it was a little too scary for her overall. So, okay. Yeah, that was probably probably a thing. But they do
39:27
have those two. Well, we may go and roll our eyes and be like that that was scary. Okay.
39:32
We're on such different levels that I'm 100% sure that's how you would feel.
39:39
And there are other amusement parks. There's a a place called Tibidabo in Barcelona and Ila Ma Mahika in
39:47
Sevilla. I don't I know Elila Mahika is a larger park. Not as huge as Park Warner, but it
39:53
is they have big roller coasters and stuff and they do the parades and stuff. So, I think a lot of the theme parks around the country are partaking. I
40:00
mean, who doesn't who doesn't want to have Exa Exactly. So, I think I think overall we can say that things are definitely
40:06
happening. they're happening more if you are living outside of the city or even in a city like you are there. Go you you
40:14
can definitely look for what's happening but you can also create your own. I mean you know we've created our own little
40:19
trick-or-treating things and and stuff in places that didn't have it just for the kids because sometimes if the kids
40:24
are really young they don't really mind, you know, they just want to collect candy from and get dressed up, right?
40:31
So they just want to have fun. They just want to have fun. It doesn't have to be huge. Like definitely. It's
40:36
not going to be what you're used to, but it's such a pleasant surprise that you can make it what you want it to be and
40:42
it's welcome. Exactly. Right. It's not like you're bringing some holiday where people like why are you doing that? there there the Sparians I met are
40:48
inquisitive about what it means and it's happening enough that it is expanding a little bit and there's more
40:54
and more things happening and if you're really hardcore about it then you know you've got these parks and things and
41:01
you know maybe in Madrid there's more much more serious stuff going on as well since it's a much bigger city so I
41:08
imagine and it's maybe been there for longer because you know these things are sort of you know the movies are bringing
41:14
it in and people are getting more excited excited about them. So, yeah, we we do love Halloween in our house, I
41:20
will say. I mean, I love it here, too. Not I'm not going to lie. I got our five decorations
41:26
up. I know. We need to expand, too. I have one of the I have one box, I think. So,
41:33
well, you were nice enough to give me boxes of of these lovely plastic boxes with the clippable lids when you move,
41:40
like the really big fins that we and so I've started to use those for all the decorations that I'm collecting. And I
41:46
have two of those for Christmas and one of those for Halloween. So, I think I need to expand to two for Halloween, I think.
41:52
Wow. Yeah, our Halloweens fit in a bit like a third of the size of the one I gave you. And that's got our Easter
41:58
stuff in it. Oh my gosh. You have some shopping to do.
42:03
Well, um, my plan is to hopefully move in the next year. So, I have put a I
42:09
have put a squash on buying anything that's not food or uniform related into
42:14
our house until we've moved because I don't know where we're moving and what it's going to look like. So,
42:19
good plan. Well, more on moving later, but for the time being, I hope everyone enjoys uh
42:25
Halloween wherever you are in the best way possible. Wherever you are, happy Halloween. Happy
42:31
Halloween. Ciao. Hey, can't get enough of us? Follow us
42:38
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42:43
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42:50
See you next time. Bye.