The Cohen-Frankel Safari: Halloween, the International Edition

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted. We kept asking for people to come visit, and suddenly some of you did (Adam's folks, his brother and Raj, Adam's Aunt Shelley, Ad's cousins, Nina & Marc, and then my parents) which was great, but it kept me busy enough that I had to abandon the blog for a bit.

Time traveling back to October 2011...

Much of the world doesn't celebrate Halloween, including South Africa. (See Wikipedia.) Perhaps I should have known, but at the time I remember thinking, "Who knew the Dentist lobby was so powerful over here." Since the stores aren't inundated with Halloween decorations, I almost forgot about the whole thing. Then Lucy came home from school one day and asked if she could dress up as Barbie for Halloween. (She goes to the American International School of Johannesburg so apparently Halloween is part of the core curriculum.) I wasn't thrilled with the costume idea, but I should have known she would go through five more ideas before settling on going as a penguin. (She loved seeing the African penguins in Cape Town. See my last post.)

Re-purposing her Shamu the Killer Whale costume from last year [Future marine biologist?!], which we happened to bring from the States, plus a few trips around town looking for foam sheeting, she and Adam made her costume.

Since no one trick or treats, the Embassy threw a Halloween Party, and the various offices gave out candy. (Getting suckers from the HR Department seemed a bit lame to me, but the kids were running around like crazy and seemed not to mind.) Noah really didn't like his pumpkin costume. ("The fabric chafes and I'm more of a Summer, Dad.")

Lucy made some friends in the Embassy Elevator.

My friend Penny went all out. I couldn't look at her third eye, but I did appreciate the use of her Embassy badge as a gypsy accessory. (Rules are rules. We all have to wear them when in the building.)

The Accounting Department turned their offices into a haunted house. (Apparently that wasn't difficult.)
By the way, Adam's blue badge means he has higher-level security clearance. Hello, Mr. Fancy pants.

Noah became friendly with the Ambassador's Executive Assistant.

But his loyalty was limited. Once he got his candy, he was out there!

The kids gathered in the cafeteria where they held a contest for the best costume.
(Lucy's was in tatters at that point and apparently failed to impress the judges.)

Where's Noah?

The best part of the night was when we lost Noah. There were a lot of kids running around. I thought Adam was watching him. He thought I was. We suddenly realized we didn't know where he was. Thankfully the security is very tight in the Embassy, so I only worried he might pick up a red phone and call President Obama's office. After running around the building (multiple floors), I finally found him wandering outside the Ambassador's office (who has his own floor of the building). I guess we left him up there. He seemed unfazed and was focused on trying to break into a Snicker's bar.

Those Crazy Americans!

On the 29th, we were invited to a friends' house for a Halloween Party. Adam dressed up in his U.S. Government-issued Commissioned Corps uniform (which he's not allowed to wear to work because it's not on U.S. soil. Don't ask me why.), including the official black socks. He slipped coming down our staircase and dislocated his shoulder. Ouch, indeed. In agony, he tried to explain to me how to pop it back in. (Imagine the scene, plus I couldn't find my nurse's outfit.) After several tries, the Embassy doctor who lives next door drove the poor guy to our nearby hospital. I quickly followed with the kids.

Since we were heading out to a Halloween party we all showed up at the hospital in our costumes. (Well, Noah flat out refused.) The hospital staff thought we were a very strange bunch. But they got Adam sorted out and he was given a fancy arm sling, which only added to his costume.