First Pumpkin

This post is written by Quyen Nguyen, first year graduate stu dent in Public Affairs. Quyen has been in Mizzou for three months and she spent her first Halloween in the U.S. carving her first pumpkin ever.

“I find it quite surprising when realizing my fanciest thing to do in Halloween was not dressing up to turn myself into a cookie, Zelda or a lady bug. I did enjoy see people in costume however. Carving some pumpkins is all I want for Halloween. (Well visiting a haunted house is never on the list. Never!)

Since we don’t really have the pumpkin carving tradition in Asia, my chance to fully experience the atmosphere had finally come here at Mizzou. With my two Chinese folks who shared the same excitement of having the first pumpkin babies ever, we headed to the MU Student Center quite early, only to find a lot of people already lining up to get the carving tools. We happened to meet some friends and a cute Vietnamese kid who was posing among a big bunch of pumpkins. Everyone was just excited for this festive night.

Choosing the smallest pumpkin, I joined my friends in a table and started cutting the top. Here comes the funniest part. Some people couldn’t pull off the cap so we kind of teamed up to help. Imagine you would hear a some “come on we can do it” or “oh be gentle I want the head to look nice”. It was just hilarious!

After scraping off all the seeds and pulp, the main part of carving a pumpkin was there for the one who is very bad at drawing – me! Not having a sample sheet and being aware of a possible small disaster I might make to the pumpkin face, I decided to play it safe by sketching the most basic style. My baby turned out to be cool. I was proud, even though I also have to admit I felt extremely humble when looking at a guy beside with his carving which had a shape of a tower with lots of small details.

It was definitely a fun night for everyone. Lots of workout and attempts were made to have the most precise cuts. My Chinese friend was so happy that he decided to leave his bike overnight at school and catch a bus to bring his baby home.

One thing for sure, Jack definitely had a lot of choices for a place to warm his soul along the way that night.”

Source: http://vietnamcorner.wordpress.com/