Not Quite Pun-Kins

American holiday traditions are a mystery to the Turks.  Take this one from a little campus community gathering last week: Pumpkin Carving.

The Turks have no idea why we get such a kick out of gutting pumpkins and creating little faces to illuminate on our porches.  After our pumpkin carving party was over, we took our half dozen lit lanterns on a parade around the campus.  Kids looked at us funny, and the guards wanted to have their picture taken holding the gourds.

Why wouldn't you want to carve a pumpkin?  I love the feeling of hacking into the hollow mound of pumpkin flesh.  Scooping out the slimy insides is a bunch of "clean" fun especially if you are like me and add slurpy sound effects.  Then there is the joy of hacking the knife through the flesh, trying not to cut yourself in the process.

Admittedly, these are no "Pun-Kins", and my classes would be disappointed with my carving efforts this year.  I can hear students past now, "Really, MJ, THIS is your effort?  Some wacky eyes and some eyebrows?"

I think I attacked my canvas without proper planning.  I was just so excited to have something to hack up that I did not pause to consider the scale of what I was doing.

To prove that not everyone here is as impulsive as I am, here is a picture of my neighbor's efforts.  Carole and Oriana are way more talented than I am at this one.

I think O's pumpkin looks like the guy from Mad Magazine.  What do you think?

If you are wondering what Pun-Kins are, here is a short description.  Literary "Pun-Kins" was an extra credit assignment that I would give in the states this time of year.  The task of the student was to make a pumpkin into a character from literature.  Students did have a little writing task they also had to do, but the point was to be creative and entertain me.

I have had some awesome "pun-kins", complete with, um, habitats.  I think my favorite one was the sand worm from "Dune" made of six mini pumpkins and a bunch of kitty litter.

The grossest one was Mina Murry from "Dracula".  Mina's face was the pumpkin and the artist had tried to dry it out so that it looked robbed of blood and the body was a three foot tall doll that he had stolen from his little sister.  The student, a boy, put the pumpkin in the oven because, hey, ovens dry things out, right?  The pumpkin turned into a gooey mess the second day, and as the projects were on display in the library (No Food or Drinks Allowed!), Mina made her way to the dumpster very quickly.