Interesting fact: Spain has only been celebrating Halloween for about ten years. One of our neighbors, who is a gym teacher at a school in Madrid, seemed to think it was linked to the influx of language auxiliaries (like us!) in the schools who have been introducing traditionally "English" holidays (such as Halloween, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day etc...). Not sure how true that is but we thought it would be fun to share!
Here are a few pictures from Andrea's school the Friday before Halloween:
Among many other Halloween inspired activities I found short 1952 Donald Duck Halloween movie on YouTube that I shared with most of my 29 classes (no thats not a typo...I have 29 classes...sooo many names!) Here are a couple pictures of one of my first grade classes enjoying the little movie (on our laptop no less!) before a little Halloween party for the preschool, kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders on the playground where they got to wear costumes.
Showing off their costumes at the playground party!
I would like to introduce my 3 year old Spanish boyfriend, 'Javi'!
He runs up to me any time he sees me for a big hug and kisses on the cheek...not to mention we wink at each other all the time (as he's so wonderfully demonstrating to the right!)
Matthew's school had quite a production: a haunted house in the basement of the school the Friday before Halloween. A huge soundsystem carried haunted noises through the whole passage. There were five "rooms": a haunted apothecary of sorts; an exorcism room, complete with a skeletal priest who jumped from the shadows as the students were trying to 
avoid getting too close to a possessed girl rising from a candlelit bed; a catatonic-watching-a-white-noise TV "poltergeist" room; a mad doctor's chamber, with bloody walls and real cow innards; and a final chamber. The regular teachers invited me to join them, but they had already chosen all the set roles, so I invented my own (wearing something like the costume to the right). I acted as a phantasm, staying just far enough away from the students to provoke their curiosity...disappearing into the next room as they got close. Once they reached the final chamber, I slowly backed myself towards the end of the hall, gesturing them near...As they got close, anticipating some horrible reaction from me, they were surprised as a chainless chainsaw came roaring to life just behind them, brandished by a rushing man in a hockey mask. They screamed senselessly, terrified to run towards me yet physically incapable of not fleeing the chainsaw. In that moment of petrification, the doors behind me were opened, and the light on the other side gave them hope of escape...and they ran for dear life....
avoid getting too close to a possessed girl rising from a candlelit bed; a catatonic-watching-a-white-noise TV "poltergeist" room; a mad doctor's chamber, with bloody walls and real cow innards; and a final chamber. The regular teachers invited me to join them, but they had already chosen all the set roles, so I invented my own (wearing something like the costume to the right). I acted as a phantasm, staying just far enough away from the students to provoke their curiosity...disappearing into the next room as they got close. Once they reached the final chamber, I slowly backed myself towards the end of the hall, gesturing them near...As they got close, anticipating some horrible reaction from me, they were surprised as a chainless chainsaw came roaring to life just behind them, brandished by a rushing man in a hockey mask. They screamed senselessly, terrified to run towards me yet physically incapable of not fleeing the chainsaw. In that moment of petrification, the doors behind me were opened, and the light on the other side gave them hope of escape...and they ran for dear life....There were about 16 groups of students in all, and after all had gone through, the teachers tilted our masks upon our heads, so that the students could see who we were, and we walked through the halls to their gawking and shouting reaction.
Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween too!
oh...my...gosh!!! JAVI IS SO CUTE - THAT WINK!!! he's gonna steal so many hearts! so neat that they're celebrating halloween over there now!
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