HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We are sad we aren't able to be with you in Portland. I think Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's a great reminder to stop and think of what we are thankful for. I have a lot to be thankful for (making it through this crazy adventure in the Middle East for one!) but most of all I think of family and friends and the Lord who has provided for us so graciously. We are very blessed.

Today we are having the expat community over for a Thanksgiving feast. Getting ready is surprisingly not as chaotic as I thought it was going to be with Steph and Matt just leaving. Maybe that's because I'm not in charge of the turkey :-) I'm making mom's homemade rolls (mmmmm), potatoes, and green beans.

A few hours later.... Everybody has gone home now. We had quite the group. The food was fabulous and it was fun to be among friends. There were 5 children under the age of 5 running around. They took a special fancy to Ken and when they weren't jumping on him, they wanted him to play hide and seek. We did have one "incident" with the keys in the doors. As the families were arriving Ken came to me and said, do you think we should take the keys out of the doors. I had completely forgot there were keys there but maybe the kids would find them and think it would be fun to turn them and accidentally lock themselves in. Well just after dinner we started to hear crying from the office. Sure enough there were two kids locked inside. Thankfully Ken had locked the one door shut earlier and had the key so after a few minutes we were able to get them out (those old keys are actually kind of hard to work with!). The little girl (3 yrs old) saw Ken as he opened the door wiped her alligator tears and came running towards him like he was her new best friend. Earlier she had been quite shy and not sure about Ken. It was cute. The 5 year old who was also locked in was just sitting on the couch relaxing. Interesting personality differences.


Anyway, we had a fun day... it's a little sad to think that this might be the last get-together we have with everybody before we leave. But we are ready to start packing up and heading home.

Hope you all got up early to catch those super saver deals the day after Thanksgiving :-)

Matt & Steph - Day 6

Today was a bit more leisurely than the rest of the week. We went to Caesarea where Matt and Steph enjoyed more ancient Roman ruins for a couple of hours. We also made sure they went in the Mediterranean Sea so they can say they've been in "the Red, the Dead and the Med" on their trip to Israel. By noon we were on our way towards Abu Gosh close to where Matt spent a semester studying here in Israel about 6 years ago. He took us around the "moshav" and we saw an authentic olive press, wine press, and threshing floor. It was pretty interesting. For lunch we stopped at the "Elvis Inn". It looked like a 50's diner with a million pictures of Elvis everywhere. The food was actually not bad, and we got to listen to Elvis music while we ate. Our final destination today was Jerusalem. I drove them in and made sure they had a place to stay for tonight... now they are on their own. I'm sure they will be just fine. It was so fun to have them visit (even if it was a busy week).

Matt & Steph - Day 5

Another trip towards the Sea of Galilee and then on to the Golan Heights area. Matt actually sat down last night and worked up a plan of attack. I was a little overwhelmed with everything on his list, but it turned out to be more than manageable. We drove out to the Sea of Galilee and stopped at a place called the Horns of Hittim, it was basically a nice view of the Sea through these two cliffs. I enjoyed the view and it was something new to see. Then on to the Mt. of Beatitudes which commemorates the spot where Jesus may have preached the Sermon on the Mount. Steph loved this place with all the flowers around the church. From here we headed North to Tel Hazor which was the biggest city (40,000 people) in Israel to be conquered when they entered the land. Next stop was the Banias Waterfalls. This is supposed to be one of the most beautiful spots in the Golan Heights. There were a few school field trips taking place so it was a little crazy, but the waterfalls were beautiful. We had our picnic lunch over by the Greek temple of Pan (built by Herod's son Philip) which was later known as the Biblical site of Caesarea Philipi. Then on to Nimrod's Fortress. Matt and Steph enjoyed this site for about an hour and a half while I rested in the car and enjoyed the beautiful fall day. On the way back home we stopped at Tel Dan which had ancient mud brick gates that date back to the time of Abraham. They had just closed so we were only able to see through the fence, but this was one of Matt's favorite spots. Maybe Ken and I will go back for a visit. It looked like there were some great hiking trails there. Tonight we are resting up for one more busy day... then Steph and Matt will be on there own in Jerusalem before heading back to the states.

Matt & Steph - Day 4

Monday we dropped Ken off at work and took a road trip towards the Sea of Galilee. Beit Shean was our first stop one of the most impressive archeological sites in Israel.


Over 20 layers of settlements have been found there, mostly Roman and Byzantine ruins. The Roman theater is still largely in tact and used for occasional shows. I'm proud to say I made it up the hill, it looked more daunting than it actually was and the breeze was so refreshing at the top. We spent the afternoon stopping at biblical sites around the Sea of Galilee (Kursi- where the pigs jumped off the cliff into the Sea; Bethsaida- an unbelieving town; Jordan River- very small, but a nice picnic spot; Capernaum- Peter's hometown and remains of an ancient synagogue; and the Church of the Bread and Fish- possible spot where Jesus fed the crowd of 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.) Another busy day!

Matt & Steph - Day 3

We had left things open on where to stay on Saturday night and after finding some dinner decided traveling up to the Masada Guest House/Hostel was our best plan. With 3 hours of driving ahead of us we piled back in the car and headed North. About 10pm we were wondering whose crazy idea this was? When we arrived in Masada and there was a closed gate I began to get a little nervous. Is there anyone here? Are we going to have to sleep in the car? Fortunately there was someone who let us in and there were rooms available. We really had very little choice as far as cleanliness or price for the room, but were pleasantly surprised with both. We hit the pillows just before midnight. Steph and Matt woke up by 5am and hiked up the hill to Masada to see the sunrise. Although the sunrise view was tempting, Ken and I have both seen Masada more than twice and valued a good nights rest so we decided to just meet them at breakfast around 8:30am. After checking out, we continued North to Ein Gedi where they hike to David's waterfall and then took a swim in the Dead Sea.



We spent the afternoon at Qumran and then headed for home. (Side note about Qumran.... a girl (maybe 20?) and her mom came up to me and said I think I know you, where are you from? I said Portland, OR and we spent the next 10 minutes trying to track down where she thought she knew me from. Turns out I was her summer camp counselor at Eagle Fern when she was 13. How random!). Anyway, the drive home was long and we all decided to zone out in front of the TV and watch a movie for the evening.

Matt & Steph - Day 2

Saturday the guys woke up bright and early and went snorkeling (the gear had to be returned by 8am). They took Matt's underwater camera and looks like they got a few really great pictures. After their adventure, they came back, ate breakfast and we were off to Petra. If only we knew what we were in for. In September Sara and I had gone with a tour group but didn't have that of an great experience with the tour company. Matt and Steph seemed to think it would be pretty easy to just catch a taxi on the Jordanian border and do Petra on our own, so that was our game plan. We were able to "exit Israel" and obtain Jordanian visas with no problems. Once in the parking lot on the Jordanian side there were 5 taxi drivers available, but I'm pretty sure they were all from the same company. The head guy indicated it would be $180 USD for the 4 of us to go to Petra and return. Matt was our "negotiator" who had in mind $100-$120 USD. So the negotiations began... we finally ended up at $140 and were on our way. As we were driving away the cab driver said something about switching drivers in a bit. We didn't quite understand what he was talking about but within 5 minutes we were stopping and getting out of his taxi on the side of the road. Hmmmm something seems fishy here.

Anyway, another taxi was nearby and he motioned for us to get in... So do we need to renegotiate our price? I'm going to let Matt take care of this one. Soon we were on our way... at least headed in the right direction. Then the taxi stops at a gas station??? Okay it's already 10:30 and we are burning precious daylight with a 2 hour ride in front of us. The driver comes back a few minutes later with some juice and nuts for us. Snacks...that's kind of nice of him. And we are off again.... or so we thought. About 10 minutes down the road a "random" police stop pulls us over. The driver can't find the appropriate papers and he is asked to get out of the car. We are all sitting there thinking... Great another delay, are we ever going to get to Petra. Soon another cop car shows up with more officers. One of the original officers comes over to us and says... You speak English? Unfortunately your driver is a criminal and you will need a new one for your trip. Did he just say CRIMINAL? What exactly is he wanted for? How could this have happened to us? Perhaps the organized tour might have been the best route to go after all. The officer was kind enough to offer to call another taxi for us. Thanks, but are we going to have to re-negotiate rates again? Is this a scam? Glad there is 4 of us. After about half an hour the original taxi guy shows up with another driver and says this new driver can take us the rest of the way. And once again we were off towards Petra. This driver did make a couple of smoke break stops along the way but we did reach Petra without any further traffic stops just after 1pm (over 3 hours from when we started at the border!). Turns out that making it to Petra without any additional police stops was a very good thing because when we got to Petra our driver got out, ran to another vehicle, and ran back to ours with some paperwork. Apparently all of his documents were in Petra and had we been pulled over a second time we would have had more issues! Can you believe it???? And this was just getting to Petra, what are the chances of us getting back to the border?

Our taxi driver was helpful and assisted us in getting our tickets into the park. We arranged to meet him at 4:30pm exactly where he dropped us off. This would give us plenty of buffer time to get back to the border before it closed at 8pm. Finally at Petra... we started on our hike. We had a wonderful time and the sites were spectacular even for the second time. It was a bit chilly though, which I hadn't anticipated at all. Matt was the only one with pants and long sleeves, the rest of us were in shorts and short sleeves and wishing we had brought our sweatshirts. Strange. I was just here in mid September and thought I was going to die of heat exhaustion. Winter has arrived I guess. At 4:30 we were back at the designated spot, but there was no taxi driver. Hmmm. A little concerning, maybe his watch is slow? We waited and waited. Well, the border closes at 8pm, how long are we willing to wait? At 4:55 we started to get up and look for another option and then we see our taxi driver come running up. Apparently he was waiting in a different spot for us. We jumped in the taxi and headed back to the border at 140kph. We were flying down those roads...I was fearful for my life on multiple occasions. I think we made it in record time, under 1.5 hours. We made it back through customs and were happy to be back at our car on the Israeli side.

Matt & Steph - Day 1

Another busy week for us :-) Steph and Matt arrived safe and sound on Thursday night. We got this great idea to try a different way to the airport and ended up about an hour late. Bummer. Good news is they got detained in customs for a bit and then had some ice cream while they waited for us. They were all smiles when I arrived. After catching up on their European travels, we asked what they had in mind for their trip to Israel. Only three things were on their list... Petra (in Jordan), the Dead Sea area (Masada), and the Galilee area. Since it was the beginning of our weekend we thought if they really wanted to get to Petra we better leave tomorrow! So Friday we drove to Eilat, the southern tip of Israel, through the Negev stopping at Ber Sheva on the way.

In Eilat we didn't really have reservations but the Guest House/Hostel that I've stayed at multiple times seems to always have availability. Since it cost about $200 a night when we went with my parents a few weeks ago, we thought we would try a couple other hotels in the area and see if we could get nicer accommodations for the same price. After looking around the guys did find a place for $150 a night and we brought our stuff in. Steph and I weren't as impressed with the cleanliness of the place but quickly put our swimsuits on and we were off to go snorkeling with our last hour of daylight. Not a lot of fish out at 5pm :-( Maybe tomorrow morning would be better? We came back to the hotel and upon closer inspection of the room became wary of our choice of hotels. The fire escape was all boarded up, there was mold in the bathtub/shower, the light switch didn't work, and there was a strong odor of smoke. We thought maybe we should go over to the Guest House/Hostel... at least there it's clean and we know what we are getting. Long story short, the guys went and determined there was availability at the other place and informed the front desk of the current hotel that we were unsatisfied with the room and would be moving out unless they had another room that would meet basic health code standards. Wish I could have been a fly on that wall. The manager was not happy with our decision, but we ended up leaving anyway. What a day, I was ready for bed!

More visitors!

My good friend from college (Steph) and her husband (Matt) have been traveling around Europe for the last 2 weeks and are stopping in for a visit in Israel! I can't wait to see them. It will be fun to hear about their European adventures and figure out what they want to see in Israel. I'm not sure how long they will stay, maybe a week. We pick them up today from TLV! Hooray!

Nathaniel Miles

A formal announcement... I'm sure the "secret" is out especially if you look at some of my blog pictures... but I thought I would post a specific announcement. Throughout our time in Israel, we have had the joy of experiencing our first pregnancy! It has been quite an adventure, one we weren't planning to embark on in a foreign land. Since Israelis are on government paid health plans, finding a Doctor that would treat an American was the biggest challenge. We couldn't have found one without the help of our neighbors. They have been such a blessing to us. The pregnancy has gone well, although I felt like throwing up every day for the first 4 months. Doctor visits have gone well too. They are usually very direct and to the point which aligns with the typical Israeli style we've experienced here. When I talked with a Doctor in the US on our home leave I was pleasantly surprised to have a personal conversation with the nurse. She asked how I was feeling and listened to my general questions. It was a completely different experience. Anyway, we found out in August that we were having a boy and decided on the name Nathaniel Aaron Miles (unless anything changes :-). We are very excited and can't wait to see him. Currently he is kicking me in my ribs which is a bit uncomfortable. My belly has grown quite a bit in the last 6 weeks. I'm feeling huge, and have been told I waddle. They weigh me in kilos here which actually makes me feel rather light when the number is under 100 :-) Anyway, we are very excited about our little one and are trying to mentally prepare for yet another adventure begining the end of January.

One last adventure - Egypt

Are we crazy??? Maybe. None-the-less, Egypt was still on our to-do list while we are in this part of the world so we decided to take a weekend trip to Cairo/Giza. Our goal was to see the Nile, Pyramids and the Sphinx... anything else could get to would be a bonus. Our friends went there in October and gave us the name of the tour guide they used. We flew on Air Sinai on Friday morning and arrived in Cairo by noon. We were surprised that they fed us since it was only an hour flight. We were happy to eat though, believing that would be our last "meal" for the next day and a half. We've heard lots of stories about needing Pepto Bismol in Egypt and when you get back... Not something either of us feel like dealing with. So we bought some bottled water in the airport and packed a ton of snacks for the weekend. We took two back packs... one with clothes, the other with the camera and food - everything from crackers, to carrot sticks, salami, cookies, dried plums, and granola bars.

Once we arrived, we came into the Cairo terminal wondering where to get our Egyptian Visas (they said we could get them there for $15/pp). I looked up and a representative from the Marriott had a sign with Ken's name on it. Wow. Fancy treatment! He assisted us with getting the Visas and took us through border control. Piece of cake! He walked us through the airport and to the shuttle headed to the hotel. This was our first glimpse of Cairo. Our first observation was the crazy driving... we thought Israelis were all over the road. In Egypt they don't even have lanes! The road was about 3 or 4 car widths wide and people were just weaving in and out as they pleased. Our hotel was about 20 minutes away so we had enough time to adjust to the driving. Egypt looked pretty dirty, there were no stop signs or traffic signals, and we were going at least 100mph on the freeway as we dodged other cars. What are we in for?

We arrived at the hotel and were more than surprised at the level of service and accommodations we reserved. It seemed really nice from the website, but we were skeptical that it would actually be like the pictures. Apparently we stayed at a 5 star Golf resort. We were traveling in jeans and sweatshirts and felt a little sheepish when we checked in. The room was fabulous. I started wishing we could have made reservations for longer, but our rewards points were all used up. After getting situated we went for a walk out by the golf course and ended up at "the beach and wave pool area". It looked like a lot of fun so we ran back to our room to grab our swimsuits. It took us about 20 minutes to wind our way back through the hotel, past the indoor pools, beauty spa, shops, restaurants, etc. By the time we arrived back at the wave pool it had been shut off :-( Bummer. We talked to the life guard and he said something about turning it on in 30 minutes. So we just laid out on the "beach" for a while. The beach was a medium sized area with sand brought in... we weren't anywhere near a sea or river. The sun was out and it was a nice 80 degrees. After half an hour Ken started to get in the water... brrr it felt like the Pacific Ocean! However, we had just asked the lifeguard to turn on the waves so we were committed to getting in at least for a bit. Ken didn't stay in for long but we got some pictures. I went in for a bit too, but didn't last long either. We had to be out in the lobby for our Nile dinner cruise by 4:30 so we didn't have a lot of time.

We signed up for a dinner cruise through the hotel concierge. We had the expectation that it would be something similar to what we did in Turkey on that river cruise (which was really casual). We were a little embarrassed when we showed up on a really fancy boat in jeans and sweatshirts. Oops. The drive through the city was very eye-opening... as in keep your eyes open because the driver couldn't possibly see everything that is going on and he might need a couple back seat drivers. Downtown Cairo... wow... glad I wasn't at the wheel. Anyway, back to the cruise, there was a salad bar with 12 different kinds of salad, and we could order one of three entrees: beef, chicken or salmon. Since we were a little wary of stomach issues we went pretty light on dinner. We had hoped to be able to walk around the boat and enjoy cruising the Nile, but I think the intent was for us to stay in the dining area for the majority of the cruise. They had a dancing Dervish (twirling man with a skirt - he made me dizzy!), a belly dancer, and a couple of musicians and vocalists. It was all interesting and somewhat entertaining. Towards the middle of the cruise we did go outside and try to enjoy the view. The Nile has huge buildings on either side for as far as the eye could see. There were 20 other "cruise boats" on the river with us. I think it would have been nicer if the sun set about an hour later and we could have had a better view of the Nile (although it did seem quite brown the next day). Overall it was a fun time but we were exhausted and ready to get back to the hotel.

Saturday we had reserved a personal tour guide and couldn't have had a better day. He picked us up in the lobby at 9am and we headed towards the Egyptian Museum. Mohammed (our guide) is an Egyptologist, so we was very knowledgeable and knew exactly what to highlight in the museum. I think we could have stayed there for another hour our so. The museum highlighted everything found in King Tut's tomb (I think he said this was the only Egyptian King's tomb that was found fully in tact and hadn't been raided). We also went into the mummy museum... which is kind of gross. These people have been dead for 4,000 years, preserved and now on display. I don't think they thought people would be walking by and gawking at them long after they were gone. You could see their fingernails and teeth, as well as the general bone structure which was still wrapped up. One of the mummy's was believed to be the Egyptian King who was drowned in the Red Sea after chasing the Israelites during the Exodus. The process of mummification sounded disgusting. I'm okay with cremation. Anyway, there was much to see in the museum and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After the museum we went to a Papyrus making shop where they showed us how they used to make paper. Interesting demonstration and of course there is always the option to buy something :-)




On to the pyramids. Wow what a sight! 3 million stones in one pyramid. They said it took 100,000 people to build them (our guide thought it was more like 20,000 - either way it was a lot). Apparently they only built the pyramids during the flood season (Jun-Aug) when they were able to float the stones down the Nile from the quarry. Each of the 3 pyramids was dedicated to one of 3 kings and intended as a burial place for that king. We spent a good two hours here as well and got a lot of great pictures. Then on to the Sphinx. Another amazing site. Right outside the Sphinx was the Mummification Temple (after a King would die they would be brought to the temple near the pyramid to mummify him).

The rest of the afternoon was spent at a perfumery and carpet making school. At the perfumery we observed a demonstration on how they blow the glass bottles for the perfume and smelled different scents. It was interesting. We did find a scent we liked but with only backpacks we were not willing to risk not being able to get it through customs at the airport. The carpet making school was really fascinating to me, I could have watched them work much longer than we did. For some of the poorer children in Cairo this is their chance to learn a skill, make a little money and get an education. The owner of the school teaches them how to weave carpets in the morning and pays for them to go to a local primary school in the afternoon. It was very interesting.

In the evening we went back to the pyramids to watch the sound and light show. It reminded me of Star Trek with that booming narrative voice (must have been created in the 70's). The pyramids were spectacular at night. It was amazing to sit there and think about what we were looking at - one of the 7 wonders of the world. Amazing. It was a full day, and we were definitely ready for bed when we arrived back at the hotel around 9pm last night.

We had a fabulous trip. I really can't believe how smoothly everything went, from the time we arrived to the time we got back to TLV. It was a whirlwind weekend, but definitely worth it. Glad we were able to make it there.

Average week

This week has been pretty low key for us. My friend Wendy and I took her daughter to the "Gesher at Nesher". The small hike to these two suspension bridges was very peaceful - which was surprising since we were so close to the city. Running back and forth across the bridges was a lot of fun too (Laura did most of the running).





Tuesday, I was invited to visit the "prehistoric caves" just south of Haifa with a couple of friends. When we arrived, it looked like we were going to be the only 3 there (tourist season over?) but two large buses of kids (maybe 4th or 5th graders?) showed up while we were gathering our things, so we hurried up to get in before them. The caves were interesting. They had a video of what life might have been like long long ago. Life seemed to be much more simple then, no worries of parking tickets or what outfit to wear. After seeing the caves we went for a nice walk down a rocky dirt road, not really sure where it would lead. After half an hour or so, we turned around and headed back to the car. It was still a nice walk even if it wasn't to a "destination". We finished our outing with a picnic lunch and then parted ways.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy with house stuff, swimming, and hanging out with friends. Ken has a bit of a cold :-( but he seems to be pulling through. It's always tough to be sick away from home. Our neighbors offered Ken some cake last night. He took a huge bite before I had time to let him know it was poppy seed cake, not fudge. By the looks you could have easily suspected it was chocolate... poppy seed was a big disappointment. We don't anticipate having to take a drug test anytime soon :-) I've never experienced that much poppy seed in one bite. I'm never quite sure how to react either because you don't want to offend anybody especially after they just said this was their absolute favorite cake. Oh well, by now the neighbors are used to my "hmmm, that's interesting" responses.

30 days and counting....

We should be in Portland 30 days from now! It seems like the last 3 months have flown by... and it's weird to think that we are almost done with our assignment here. I'm sure there are things I will miss but as of now, we can't wait to be home and see all of you in Portland! Yesterday we were cherishing the idea of being home soon after a trip to the grocery store... almost every car had parked in two spots and it seemed impossible to find a place to park, earlier I tried to pull money out of the ATM and recieved nothing (at least I got my card back! Hoping it wasn't deducted from our bank account), and our TV is not working again (we invited the cable guy to our house for the 6th time in 6 months, it now works but the remote doesn't). The simple things here seem so complicated. On the bright side, the weather is fabulous now... sunny, 70 degrees with a slight breeze. See you soon.

An American Party!

One of our expat friends here came up with a terrific idea of having an American Party yesterday. She worked very hard on putting together a delicious American menu. It included Bacon Cheeseburgers, Chili and cornbread, Hotdogs, chips, PB&J sandwiches, Fruit, Veggies, Apple Pie and Chocolate Cake. It was all Non-Kosher and very tasty!!!3 other families (all from Oregon!) also came to the party. It was so much fun. We ended up staying until the wee hours of the morning playing one of our favorite board games (Settlers of Catan). I think of all the things we will miss from Israel, it will probably be the friendships we have made. We will look forward to catching up with them early next summer when their expat assignment is complete.

Showing up counts!

This week I made it to the gym every day (Sun-Thurs). I don't know why it's always a struggle to get there, because you always feel good once you've done your workout. Getting there.... it's a mental battle. Sunday was the first time I'd been there since September! I wondered if anybody had noticed I was gone (you know, all my friends over the age of 65). Some of them seem to squint at me as if I looked sort of familiar but they weren't quite sure (I think my new swimsuit and belly through them off). I said Boker Tov and they smiled back with a Hello, how are you? We did not know where you went! It was nice to be missed. The water aerobics class is a bit smaller than it was in the summertime, so you don't have to fight for space in the pool. Anyway, when I worked out in Portland one of my good friends constantly reminded me that showing up counts... just get to the gym and establish the routine, later you can work on getting results. Other than working out in the morning my week has been pretty low-key... just running errands and spending time with friends. It's been relaxing :-) One of my college friends and her husband are coming to visit in two weeks! Hooray! And after that it will be almost time to pack up and come home. It's amazing how fast time has gone by these last 2 months.

Feels like September

The weather is perfect here now. Warm sun all day with a slight breeze is what we've experienced for the last 3 or 4 days. Yesterday I picked Ken up from work and we headed to the beach for a walk on the promenade. It was perfect! We even splurged on our favorite ice cream bars - Nestle crunch chocolate bars, surrounded by chocolate icecream, with a chocolate shell. mmmmmm.

Happy Halloween

I can't believe it's the end of October already! It went by sooo fast! We hadn't really anticipated celebrating Halloween this year but our neighbors invited us to a party so we decided to go. I guess they enjoyed the festivities so much when they were in the US 7 years ago that they have continued the tradition here in Israel with 4 other families who were also in the US around the same time. I was amazed at all the Halloween decorations they had strewn about the house (although no one was in a costume). They even had a motion sensor at the front door that announced "happy halloween" when you walked in. There were about 10 kids (ages 7-15) that were carving white pumpkins outside on the table. Yes, white pumpkins. I'm not sure why they don't have orange ones here, and they didn't get them at the grocery stores like you can in the US.

Everyone brought a side dish and there was plenty to eat. We had something similar to spice cider, 4 different kinds of salads, 2 soups (one was a pumpkin/spice flavor), hot dogs/sausages, something similar to a beef wellington, and lots of hummus and bread. I brought the potato salad and it seemed to be a hit :-) The one thing that was missing was all the chocolate candy that you usually have at Halloween... Snickers, Butterfinger, Milky Way, anything.... they had some hard candy in a dish which they seemed content with :-( I guess it was good for our waistlines but how can you have a party without chocolate? Maybe I should have made a dessert instead. They did have a couple desserts: an apple torte and tapioca pudding. Overall I'm glad we went, but it made me miss our annual pumpkin carving party with our friends back home.