Deauville Dispatches: C'est 'Alloween!

While for most of you folks Halloween was probably celebrated the 31st of October, here in Deauville we were so pumpkin crazy that we moved the party up over a week early to the 21st and 22nd, the last two days before our Toussaint break. Halloween is not a holiday that is typically celebrated in France, but three years ago the service d'anglais decided to institute the tradition here, and it's been a huge hit with the kids ever since! Having carved pumpkins, attended my school's huge Halloween carnival, and gone trick-or-treating every year when I was little (my best costumes were when I was a dalmatian, a bumblebee, and an oreo--but not all the same year) it was a bit strange to have to explain the concept of Halloween to my students, but it was also fun to watch them as they carved pumpkins for the first time.

Because we wanted to maximize the opportunity to break from our usual routines as much as possible, Halloween infiltrated nearly every aspect of our job. In my classes we studied Halloween vocabulary, practiced our scary witch laughs, read stories about Halloween parties and a mother monster who was searching for her baby, carved a few pumpkins, and learned the Time Warp dance from Rocky Horror Picture Show (for the record, our version was severely abridged and quite clean). In garderie (the after school care that we help supervise) we carved pumpkins with the students after they finished their homework every day for a week. During our lunchtime English activities we drew scary Halloween scenes on huge pieces of paper and...carved more pumpkins. And, the last two days before break the car the City lets us use became a Halloween party on wheels as we put on carnivals at the 4 schools where we teach. Some of our students brought costumes to wear while others were in their street clothes, but I think they all enjoyed our booths: face painting, scary boxes where they had to touch intestines, eyes, livers, etc., a 4 corners game, and some tasty snacks. And I really enjoyed smashing our pumpkins on the playground at Fracasse after the final party. Ivan brought out a baseball bat and we played a bit of pumpkin baseball. I wish I could express to you what a gratifying feeling it was when the hard pumpkin shells would connect with the bat with a huge crack! (We cleaned up the mess, for the record.)

And how was Halloween itself, you ask? I wasn't actually in Deauville on the 31st, but Katherine said we had around 6 trick-or-treaters total, some in costumes and some without, over the course of the evening. We didn't actually have any candy on hand, but Katherine handed out Clementines instead. I'd be interested to learn what they were given at other houses up and down the block, since I doubt many people were expecting witches on their doorsteps demanding candy!

And now, for the photos:

Carving pumpkins with one of my GS (kindergarten) classes

Some of my students were less enthusiastic than others about touching the slimy flesh.

Choosing a face for our pumpkin: I drew options on the board and then we voted.

Posing with the finished products

My MS (4 year olds) in the thick of the action

Katherine with her students at St. Arnoult


And here we have it, ladies and gentlemen: my "sandwich americain" costume. That's an actual sandwich name in France, but here it's supposed to be funny: I'm an American, and I'm wearing a sandwich...