It's in my backyard!

So I guess Hessen's own Frankenstein's Burg (the castle that inspired Mary Shelley) is making some North American news agencies.
http://www.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/spending_halloween_in_frankensteins_castle/43499/

Yawn.

Any Hessischerin worth her weight in Applewein knows that this castle just south of Darmstadt (maybe 50 minutes south of the 'Furt) is the place to be for Halloween on mainland Europe. Make that the only place to be. Halloween is not big here. I don't know if I will have the opportunity to break out my beloved cat ears.* I chalk up Germans' chilly embrace of Halloween to their literalism. Germans have a very low tolerance for fancy, and even less for children knocking on their doors after sundown. Ja, ja, ja, I know that Halloween is an American export and many students and peers have pointed out that it's a holiday created by candy companies, but who cares? It's one of America's better exports, and traditions, if you ask me, and commercialism doesn't bother me so much when it culminates in a Funsize Twix or a Mylar balloon with the the word "Spooky" written on it.

I have had the weirdest work week, which I'm chalking up to the crazy global vibes of the election/the financial crisis/my proximity to Frankenstein's house. Students have been revealing things to me that make me very nervous, and I am just not sure how to respond:

-Today a male student told me that his children (let's be real, he said "childs" because he can't nail down that irregular plural) were miracles. I nodded and said, "I know, children ARE miracles." But then he went into a very detailed account of his fertility problems, including how he got nervous when he had to "Make it in [the] cup with the hardcore."
- On Tuesday a man whom I always thought was German revealed to me that he was in fact Peruvian, born to Estonian parents, and educated in a Swiss boarding school.I never thought him glamorous, and now I can't help thinking he's a spy. I don't trust him anymore.
- Those were actually the only two things, but I thought they were pretty weird, and deserved a mention on this Godforsaken blog.

* My cat ears are an integral part of the costume I have worn most for Halloween, "Black Cat." I love the simplicity of a few black eyeliner whiskers, a headband with ears, and a black turtleneck with jeans. This costume illustrates both my lack of ingenuity and my belief that black cats and I share a similar fashion sense.