I mentioned in my last post that French students have a 2 week vacation for All Saints’ Day (les Vacances de Toussaint), but they’re really lacking in holiday spirit. It feels weird to watch Halloween approach with no pumpkins resting on porches, no fake cobwebs in the trees or tombstones in the yard, no black and orange aisles in the grocery store full of chocolate and, worst of all, no jack-o-lanterns. Okay, I know they don’t really celebrate Halloween, but come on.
I’ve been carving pumpkins every Halloween for years, and so far I haven’t even been able to find a pumpkin in this city. Aren’t there pumpkins in France? There must be, because I had to learn the word for pumpkin in my high school French class (une citrouille). Nevertheless, I have failed. I guess farmers here are too busy burning hay in protest to harvest the pumpkin patch (seriously, the protesting here does not stop). I still have a few days to find a pumpkin, but it looks like this Halloween will be a sad one. Just to keep my spirits up, I made my desktop wallpaper a picture of last year’s jack-o-lantern, which came just in time for the election and even won an award! That’s right, a pumpkin award. Don’t mock me.
If I do find a pumpkin before Halloween, Shawn suggested that I carve Sarkozy. I don’t think my neighbors would like that. Any other ideas?
Related posts:
« Les Vacances, le travail | Lesson Learned »
Carla Bruni? Or maybe the french comedian, M. Hulot?
THE KELV