While Halloween is gaining in popularity in Germany, it has yet to make a noticeable impact in my neighborhood. For the 3rd year in a row, I have carved jack-o-lanterns and bought candy in the hope that some local kids would ring my bell and yell “Süßes oder Saueres!”, and for the third year in a row, we had no real trick or treaters. I say real because my girlfriend, knowing how disappointed I was with the turnout over the last 2 years, asked a neighbor to bring his kids over to knock on the door. That is almost as pathetic as your mom paying other kids to play with you. Plus, they didn’t have costumes on. It was quite obvious that they didn’t really undestand what they were doing. As I shoved candy into their hands, they gave their dad a look like, “why are we knocking on this stranger’s door and getting candy?”

Oh well. Maybe next year, I will put some trick-or-treater codes on our curb. Here are the jack-o-lanterns we made. At least none of them got stolen like last year.