Hello-ween, America!
Stefania Arshanty Felicia (INA YES to USA YP 17–18)
It was the third month of me living as an exchange student from Indonesia to the United States. There’s a lot of changes happening; the habits for not having rice as my main meal twice a day, the language that I speak, or even every little thing that I never noticed before –how I see the cedars beside the daily road instead of coconut trees. The temperature changes, from almost cold to really cold for a tropical kid –who used to not comfortable wearing sweaters and socks, now become a big lover of it. Or the leaves color that turning into yellow and red between the green pines, something that I always love to see during the study hall in my school through a big window in the library.
The third month also means that it is the October, the spookiest month in a year. Every store hung the trick-or-treat decoration; put much more candies in the first isles so people can easily buy it. The unique costumes filled Goodwill, a place where you can buy things pretty cheap –also one of a favorite place of exchange student spent their money too. The families planned to go to the pumpkin patch with their kids, and a crowd pumpkin patch was something familiar every weekend. Cafés in every corner sold pumpkin spice coffee and pumpkin spice cakes. Americans were ready to embrace one of the “informal” holidays that is known in the world as Halloween.
My first Halloween experience started on October 20th with the Halloween Dance, an event that held at my school, West Sound Academy, hosted by Social Committee and The Thespian. My school doesn’t have a homecoming dance, so they put this dance to replace it. I participated in Social Committee as a volunteer for decoration. It was super fun; it was my first time to be a part of decoration team and also my first dance! Everyone wore costumes to the dance and mingled. Pumpkin cookies, ghost-shaped cookies, chips, and sparkling water filled the energy through the night. I wore a black-colored outfit with vampire make-up. We danced for three hours, and everyone was so excited and happy.
The night wasn’t end yet. We continued the spooky experience to the Kitsap Haunted House with my friends. Some of us were still wearing their costumes and makeup too. We walked through a 3D paintings isle that gave you the “confusing, dizzy” vibes. Then we walked through the ghost isles, filled with the vampires, spooky dinner table, scary music, and a cool isle called “the reborn.” The difference with “Rumah Hantu,” the Indonesian version of the haunted house, is the version of ghost. It wasn’t the pocong, nenek lampir, or kuntilanak; but they have vampires and monster instead.
It wasn’t enough to experience Halloween with the pumpkins. I went to the pumpkin patch with my host family and their friends there. Thankfully, it was sunny, not rainy as the typical Washington weather. We almost ran out of the pumpkin, since we went there on the last weekend before Halloween. But we still got enough pumpkin for all of the kids to have one. We had the fun race that my host mom called, “the pumpkin race,” and we pretended to run for the only pumpkin that left in the yard. My host brother won the race and got the biggest pumpkin.
I ended my Halloween with the trick-or-treating activity. I wore the fall queen costume with maple leaves all around the clothes and a flower crown. I joined my friends in the evening for a big American dinner in my house. We ate baked potatoes with sour cream, cheese, and bacon. Then we continued to do the trick-or-treat in another neighborhood since there’s not a lot of kids in my community. They were so loud but funny! Some of the house that we visit even told us that we were too old enough to ask for candies, but we didn’t care. Well, because they had a group of ten teenagers knocking their houses and saying trick-or-treat to them. Sometimes, we just randomly visit a house that looked like no kids coming over, and we were so happy to know that we were the first people who ask candies for years! Seeing them smile and really happy touched my heart. We had a blast, of course. After we got lots of sweets, each one of us made a small candy trading and arranged the candies on the floor. Suddenly the house become so loud with all of us made the exchange candy or trade candy program. I felt like in a crowded candy market. It was so cool to be the part of them. Some of us even got popcorn, a big KitKat, and a big Hershey chocolate that they didn’t want to trade.
October meant a lot to me. It was one of the challenging rollercoaster month, the biggest American cultural experiences, and the memorable moments. It is the Halloween month, but I also called October as the Hello-ween. Ween in Old English means to fancy, imagine, believe; expect, hope. So, hello to what I’ve been hoping in my life, America! I am proud to experience and share the culture with Americans. Today, I write this in my 97th days living in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. Thank you AFS and U.S Department of States, terima kasih!
