Halloween soup

Today's entry will be short because not much happened. In the morning I had my three-hour French class, and learned the vocabulary associated with friendship and amour. I can now wield such useful phrases as "Pierre has fallen in love with Isabelle," "I miss your gentle embrace" and "They are honeymooning in Tahiti." I also learned that I've been using the word "ami(e)" (friend) incorrectly. Apparently if you say "my friend," you are implying that someone is a boyfriend/girlfriend, but if you say "a friend" or "some friends" or even "my best friend," it is clear that you're only on platonic terms with the person in question. Perhaps this is why my host parents have been looking so confused when I've talked about "all my friends" in the program here. Whoops, we are not a polygamous lesbian circle. Sorry about that.

Once again, though, none of this newfound vocabulary will help me in daily French encounters. Like today, when a button came off my coat and I had to comb through the dictionary looking for "needle" and "thread," whose French equivalents turned out to be two of the most impossible pronunciations to infer. Aiguille? Fil? To enunciate the l or not to enunciate the l, that is the question. I ended up bringing the lone button to dinner as a prop, which effectively communicated my need when coupled with some mimed sewing actions and heartfelt attempts at verbalization.

Dinner was also somewhat amusing tonight. On the table sat a large sauce pot filled with a creamy orange soup. I was given a ladle and the order to serve myself, which I did, asking in what I hoped was my least judgmental voice, "What kind of soup is this?"
My host mom said the name of a French vegetable, but I didn't understand.

"Halloweens! It is halloween soup!"

"Hallooween soup?" I clarified.

"That is not the word," said my host dad, in French. "They are not called halloweens."

"Pumpkins?" I ventured helpfully.

"Oui! Pumpkeens!"

As Diane affirmed when I told her the story, though, "halloweens" are much more fun to use in sentences. Want to carve some halloweens tonight? I planted halloweens in the garden this year. Oh no, the neighborhood hooligans have been throwing halloweens at the mailboxes again!

So that's pretty much all that happened today. I did successfully borrow the aiguille and fil, and (somewhat ineptly-- I believe one of the aunts would refer to it as "piggy stitching") mended the stockings and coat button that were in need of repair. Tilo, ever watchful, has dragged the coat to the ground and is now sleeping on it. It's only 9:30 (or 21:30, as we say here in the land of military time) but I'm already tired. I fall asleep so readily and sleep so soundly here, probably because of all the walking we do every day. It reminds me of the short-lived burst of athleticism I experienced in tenth grade when I joined cross-country's off-season training for two months. Never slept more soundly in my life. Now if only Tilo would stop attacking me in my bed at night when I roll over, all would be well.