Злой Заяц

Hoody Hooo!!!! Halloween got way out of control! It turned out just like an American Halloween party-- the French did a pretty good job of getting into the spirit. The entire Halloween Party Checklist was checked off: drunkenness, pumpkins, bobbing for apples, bad costumes, good costumes, somebody hooked up with a random girl/guy, somebody puked, hooliganism, candy, a scuffle, horror movies, a visit (or 2) from the authorities...the whole nine yards, I guess I did a pretty good job bringing Halloween to Moscow. Let's go through the list.
Drunkenness: We had a fridge full of beer, several bottles of vodka, some wine, and a tub of punch/hooch (the kind with the fruit in it), and some people brought their own booze! Glasses were broken, the floor turned black from who knows what, pieces of costumes were found everywhere, people lost cell phones...it was great.
Pumpkins: After a rather lengthy search through the рынок my roommates and I found pumpkins and our costumes. Our costumes ranged from good to bad: mine was bad-I was a ninja; Karsten's was really good-he was an old Russian lady, a Babushka. The pumpkins were strange, we payed almost $20 for a decent sized one and a rather small one, and I learned that Russian pumpkins are different than American ones. First off they're not as orange, and secondly they're much harder to carve due to having a lot more “meat” to them. I figure that they've been bred differently from the ones at home since here people buy them to cook and make food from and at home we just have fun cutting them up and smashing them. But I got them carved and think I did a really good job of it, especially when considering that the pressure was on, everybody was watching and expecting great things. The first, the big one is just a classic pumpkin head, and the little one is what I call Злой Заяц or The Evil Hare.
Costumes: People did a really good job getting creative. You have to remember that there is no tradition of Halloween in their culture, and no Halloween Expresses in Moscow, yet some of these people had costumes that would be good and could maybe win prizes at an American party. My favorites were Gui2 dressing as Heath Ledger's Joker (very well too), Karsten as the Babushka, Yuri dressed as a mummy (wrapping himself in toilet paper), and Orlando's werewolf.
Love: Orlando was spotted on the balcony making out with some Russian girl we met while playing football last week, and they didn't complain when they were locked out there and the curtains drawn.
Ralphing: Yuri. Dude won the Ghoul of the Night Award. He was the drunkest, had tons of fun, the mummy costume was great (we are still finding pieces of it in random places 20+ hours later), and he finished the night like a true ghoul: puking in his bathroom sink.
Hooliganism: Some of the French enjoyed the old game of ringing doorbells and running like hell, and one of the French girls (probably the most refined of them too) enjoyed a round of throwing apple cores at cars on the street.
The fight: While Yuri was puking I went to check on him and found him in a hilarious position sitting on the edge of the bathtub leaning against the sink so I wanted a picture, but when I tried I got attacked by one of the French girls. Then 20 minutes later she came back to my apartment so I told her to leave in 3 languages (Karsten was delighted when I got really upset and went to German “Aus! Aus Mein Haus! Schnell!), and when she didn't I threw a glass of water in her face (she left). Then 5-10 minutes later her friend, another French girl came, took my glass and threw the water in my face, which was cool and what I deserved, but then she raised the glass like she was going to hit me with it, at which time I grabbed her by the throat, held her at arm's length and showed her the door. There was massive drama and chaos. Some people disappeared and others found it funny when I said that it was typical of Halloween. On the whole it was a bad situation whose fall-out has yet to be seen, I honestly think I really fucked up. This may require a good old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner to make peace... But on with the story.
Authorities: The командант made 2 appearances, the first rather early. She laughed at our costumes and gave us a warning about something or other. Then at almost 1AM she showed up again, this time angry and making everybody who didn't live in the building leave, which didn't faze Orlando who was locked on the balcony or stop the French from going crazy-- it was before the drama. So on this front I think I'm winning, nobody else's parties have brought 2 visits from the authorities...Ah Halloween, always a good time. As The Misfits said: “this day anything goes.” I hope you guys all had a good Halloween with plenty of ghouls, fun, and chaos.