Spreading the Pumpkin Love!

Over the last month I've discovered that if you gather enough international students together and a cultural exchange of ideas, food, entertainment, etc. spontaneously occurs.  Since joining the MIH house I've shared international food, international movie nights, and late night discussions about random cultural differences or traditions (most recently about marriage rituals in India and Sri Lanka).  I have to say that I love it!  These are the exact reasons that I wanted to live in an international setting.  All this peace and goodwill... recognizing the humanity in persons who might normally in our home countries be considered "the other"... there has to be some way to translate this on a global scale... that's the start of another post that will have to wait for another day.  Until this weekend my most significant contributions (besides listening and asking lots of questions) to this most natural cultural exchange has been through numerous explanations of the US election. (Its the international topic of conversation these days, well that and the economy or exchange rates for international students [smile].)  But on Saturday I had the chance to share some real US culture-- the tradition of carving pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns for Halloween.  I always just assumed that this was a tradition that was inherited by the US from one of our immigrant cultures, but now I have it on good authority that this is definitely an all-American activity.  I had the most fun teaching my new friends from Sri Lanka, Spain, Italy, Taiwan, and Greece to carve their very first pumpkins.  That afternoon has to be one of my favorite experiences since I've been here.  During the afternoon I told them all that in their countries next year they had to carve a pumpkin to spread the "pumpkin love."  Enjoy these photos of our pumpkin fun.

Just, Margaret