October 27, 2006

I went to the mall today to buy some food items that I had run out of. My walk to the mall was beautiful, with clear, sunny skies making a beautiful warm day. When I stepped inside the mall and found that the halls were decked with Christmas decorations, it was an odd sensory experience. I still associate Christmas with cold, snow, etc; it is really weird to see decorations up when it’s so summer-like outside, and almost even weirder that they’re up so soon (it’s not even Halloween yet!). It seems to me like Christmas items are turning up earlier and earlier every year anymore. In fact, just over a week ago when I was in K-mart in the mall, they were already putting out their Christmas items. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me today in the mall; however, I took some pictures last week that I will include in this post. :)

In the grocery store I saw my first and only evidence so far that it’s almost Halloween – “Halloween pumpkins.” At the grocery store today there was one shelf where there were two orange pumpkins remaining and the going price was $12-something each. It looks like there was, when the shelf was fully stocked, room for 15 pumpkins at most. I learned this semester that, for some reason, Australians generally do not celebrate Halloween, and several Australians that I’ve talked to seem to think it is because Australians don’t want to be too much like Americans, and Halloween is a very American holiday, apparently. I’ve also learned that any type of winter squash is called pumpkin (I bought some “butternut pumpkin” today), and Australians don’t make and most have never tasted pumpkin pie. Apple pie may be American, but most Australians have had apple pie. If you want a pie that’s American, if you ask me it most definitely should be pumpkin pie. :)