Thanksgiving

Being away from home on the holidays is a bit difficult. Even though people here are really nice, there is something about friends and family from home that share a common background that just can’t be replaced. As I expected, I hit the point where the novelty of living abroad has worn off. It has been feeling a bit daunting having to completely start from scratch socially. To make matters worse, even though I know Thanksgiving is an American holiday and I shouldn't expect a day off or anything, I was a little upset my school scheduled parent observations on Thanksgiving.

Fortunately, Danny and I were still able to have a very festive holiday dinner, two in fact. On Thanksgiving night the vegetarian dining club had a dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Anna Maya Cafe. The dishes were pretty unique. We had plum liquor, sauteed dates with tofu cream cheese, lots of appetizers like dumplings and veggie sushi, pumpkin soup, salad, mushroom 'meat' loaf and a dessert platter. It wasn't exactly a traditional Thanksgiving meal but the food was good and the company was pleasant.
































On Saturday my co-workers (mostly Alex) organized a Thanksgiving dinner. I made stuffed peppers and pecan pie. Neither of them came out as good as I had hoped though. The stuffed peppers were a bit bland and I burned the pie a little. It looked pretty though.











They ordered food from City Shop and prepared a really yummy meal. We had green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes (and I think a few people had the turkey as well). I had a good time. I was happy we still got to celebrate Thanksgiving, even though we are far from home. We even did the thing where we went around the room and said what we are thankful for. I really appreciate all the work Alex did planning it and Chrissy and Barb for hosting us!