No, Really, I Am an American

With the work situation so up in the air, Anna decided to host American Thanksgiving early so that no one had to worry too much about working the next day or the day of; since Canadian Thanksgiving was last month (or earlier at least), it seemed all right to have a late-early Thanksgiving.

Mike and Anna bought yet another oven, this one was bigger, and turkeys — yes, that’s plural — weeks in advance for the event. I went over early, with a few other folk, to help prepare what we could. Kat, Katrina, Jack’s roommate Jason, and I were in charge of peeling potatoes and rolling lumpia, the meat kind that everyone likes. Mike bought himself a fancy new camera and was taking preparation pictures while the end of Braveheart played in the background.

By the time all the cooking was finished and all the guests arrived it was closer to 8:00, only an hour off the projected time. It was a freaking nice spread: two turkeys, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, stuffing, deviled eggs, vegetable plates, lumpia, rolls, gravy (served in the gravy boat given to them by Darya — and Jacob?), and of course, pumpkin pie for dessert. We watched Goonies while we ate and naturally broke off into conversations.

The last bus was at 10:20, but a few of us stuck around to hang out. We ended up drinking peppermint hot chocolate and just chillaxin’, as my brother would say.

I’m really glad to have met such friends as these in a country far from home and far from the people I’ve known for so long. Despite being in a non-Western country, I’m glad we’ve managed to keep up our customs surrounded by good people and good times.

Freaking AWESOME Thanksgiving!