Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween a week early from France! As I mentioned earlier, they don't really do the big she-bang here like we do at home....depressing, I know. What made me really miss the Walmart displays I typically scorn at when they show up a month early, was the lack of any sort of Halloween display here. Elodie and I went pumpkin hunting for her class on Wednesday. We drove around only to find puny little gourds, or, even worse, already cut up pumpkin! The best we could find was this....

The bigger ones were wider, not taller. And as a result, we weren't really able to cut it, so we resorted to some Sharpie action....Voila.

Elle est belle, non?

So now that you've seen our pumpkin, I should also show you the decorations. The teachers were all very pleased, saying it was the first time they ever decorated for Halloween (let alone celebrated it USA style). The kids were so excited to decorate, even more so when Elodie found some old spiderweb decorations from her assistantship in England.

And now, a quick glance through the trou de serrure ( keyhole) of my life as an English assistant.

Finally, a little preview of the lovely little Frenchies I work with every week. About 40 percent of the kids dressed up on Friday. Not too much, but actually a lot more than I expected after seeing a Halloween display the size of my closet (at home) in Carrefour. They don't even have special Halloween candy here, just the typical Haribo candy ( So hint hint, send some Reese's this way). Not to mention that they don't understand that we can dress up in whatever we want for Halloween. They thought it was all about witches, skeletons, and ghosts. After explaining and showing pictures of my sister and I in our Halloween costumes circa the early '90's, they taught me about their big holiday, Carnival. In short, our Halloween costumes are equivalent to their costumes for Carnival (aka Mardi Gras for any N'awlins people).