The Great Korean Pumpkin Carve-off

On the day of The Great Pumpkin Carve-Off (the day before Halloween) the pumpkins were handed out to all the classes that wanted to participate; additionally, there would be a Jack O’ Lantern Contest the next day with prizes for the best one, funniest one, ugliest one, and the scariest.

The students in my class really got into carving their Jack o’ Lantern; they had fun hollowing out the pumpkin, getting their hands dirty with the pumpkin goo that they pulled out in handfuls and promptly disposed of (after threatening to throw some of it at their classmates) in a trashcan. Of course, they were supposed to be speaking English while they were carving their pumpkins and many did.

One of my students was an ex-Korean Air flight attendant and she had fun pulling out some handfuls of pumpkin goo-not exactly something she had ever encountered serving coffee or tea at 37,000 feet. Another student, who was an artist, took charge of coming up with a design for a scary Jack o’ Lantern.

In the meantime, while all these students were busily carving their pumpkins, the cleaning women-four middle-aged Korean women-responsible for cleaning the classrooms and bathrooms, could not believe what they were seeing: perfectly good pumpkin insides being thrown out by wasteful students and apparently, judging from all the laughter and giggling, being encouraged by their Western teachers. This was pumpkin blasphemy in their eyes and they were not about to let all that good pumpkin goo go to waste.

Like hawks circling high above looking for food, these four women swooped into each classroom and scooped up as much of the pumpkin innards they could get their hands on and salvage as much of it in the communal kitchen on the second floor of the four-storey building. Of course, as soon as these women burst in the classrooms and began to salvage whatever pumpkin viscera they could, the teachers and students were a little confused and there were a few, not-so kind words exchanged between cleaning women, teachers, and some of the older students, who might have outranked the four cleaning women in status, but not in age.

The Great Pumpkin Carve-Off had quickly turned into The Great Pumpkin Stand-Off as both sides refused to budge. Finally, one of the Korean office staff had to mediate a truce that allowed the carving to proceed without any more incident.

In the end the cleaning women won out: they were allowed to collect the pumpkin innards as soon as the students had hollowed out their pumpkins and the students continued to have fun carving their pumpkins. As for my class, it was a win-win situation: the cleaning women got their pumpkin goo and my students won first prize for the scariest Jack o’ Lantern.