１０月３１日（日）、今日はハロウィンです！！！

もともとはアイルランドのケルト人たちが、日本でいう「おおみそか」にあたる日、秋の収穫を祝ったり、亡くなった人たちの魂が戻ってくる日と信じていたそうです。家族や親しい人たちの魂だけでなく、悪い霊たちも一緒にやってくると思われていたため、生きている人々はいつもと違う服（変な服？おばけのような服）を着て、自分たちに悪さをさせないようにしようとしました。ハロウィンで仮装をするのは、このためだったのです。

ハローズの外国人の先生たちは毎年すてきなコスチュームを見せてくれます！１０月２５日～３０日のハロウィンウィークだけでなく、今日のパーティーも楽しみにしていてください！

写真はこれまでに作ったハロウィン飾りのひとつです。普段はかわいい表情のおばけ（右端）が好きなのですが、このキリっとしている表情もいいですよね(^^)/

ハローズでは明日、ハロウィンパーティーを行います。

昨年はコロナ過で中止しました。

今年もコロナ対策で人数を制限して行います。

参加してくれる子たちが、どんな仮装をしてくれるのか

楽しみにしています。

When I was younger, Halloween was my second favorite holiday. We would wear costumes to school, receive Halloween candy and have a party at school. Then we would go trick or treating in the evening. We would come home with bags full of candy. We would also watch scary movies. There are some good classic movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Scream.

Now as an adult and a parent, we can pass those traditions to our children in hopes that they enjoy Halloween as much as we did when we were children. Thank you for reading my blog. 

Nick

I had the opportunity to buy a new tea a while back. I’m always buying different teas, to be honest. Tea is one of my favorite beverages, and I’m always on the lookout for a cool new flavor to enjoy. 

This latest tea is particularly aesthetically appealing, though. I’ve never seen anything else like it.

It’s called “mallow blue”. It’s a floral tea, which is a variety that tends to be very aromatic and not so very flavorful, at least in my experience. Then again, my go-to teas are all black teas, so I am clearly biased towards tea with a strong flavor. That doesn’t mean I’m unwilling to try floral teas, however. Far from it. I just keep to smaller packages of floral teas than I do black teas. This mallow blue really lives up to its name, though. While the flavor is as mild as I expected, the color very much is not. It’s literally blue when you first steep it! I was shocked the first time. If you steep it for a little longer it turns golden, which is comparatively disappointing. But that first pour sure is gorgeous.

I’m going to continue enjoying this mallow blue tea. I only drink it in clear glasses so I can fully appreciate that gorgeous color.

I’ve never seen this tea anywhere else. But if I ever get the chance to visit a Jupiter’s in Sapporo again, I’ll be sure to look for this. And I’ll continue to be adventurous is my tea experimentation. Who knows what color the next gem I find will be.