Thanksgiving Festivities!

I celebrated Thanksgiving with my students by doing a lesson about Thanksgiving and then showing the Thanksgiving episode of The Simpsons. It was a pretty fun lesson, and I think most of the kids like the episode. I played it with Korean subtitles, so I at least know they understood it! I taught them all about Thanksgiving traditions, like the Thanksgiving Parade, football, and giving food to the homeless. When I taught them about the food that we usually eat, they kept thinking that the turkey was chicken...they really haven't ever seen a wild turkey here, which is weird to think about considering in Newton they flock in people's driveways! I also told them the story of Thanksgiving--I should say both stories because I told them the traditional story and then what really happened to the Native Americans. I got really creative with pictures and gestures in my attempts at conveying small pox, murder, and religious intolerance (of the King, forcing the pilgrims to leave). One of my students asked why I didn't go home for the holiday. My response was writing how much money it would cost (in won) to fly home. He went, "ohhhhhh."

We weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving on actual Thanksgiving Day because we had school. We did go to taekwondo and watched Serena and Max pass their belt tests. Serena passed 2 belts! She's brown now, and Max is blue. Master Hwang heard us talking about Thanksgiving and basically invited himself over to Serena and Max's on the weekend for some turkey! He's hilarious sometimes. After taekwondo, we went out for MacDonalds. Hardly a Thanksgiving feast, but at least it was a little piece of home on Thanksgiving with some of our lovely friends. As I was rushing off to school the next morning, I called the house briefly and interrupted Thanksgiving dinner to talk to Mom, Dad, Ben, Catherine, and Uncle Richie. It was nice to get to talk to everyone and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving even if we only talked for a second.

On Friday, I had a lovely surprise at lunch. The package from my mom came!!! I was so excited, but I didn't open it until I got actual clearance that I could open it before Christmas. She sent a beautiful advent calendar for me to hang up, and the best part is that it was stuffed with lindt chocolate balls! She also sent me some hot chocolate and chocolate spoons to go with it. I got some beautiful earrings and a Canada charm for my charm bracelet. I also got a pair of Canada mittens, Canada booty socks, and a Canada magnet. There will be no mistaking that half of me is Canadian! The presents were really amazing, and it was great to get something from home. It's really terrible being away for the holidays. At least the last time I was away for Thanksgiving I was in Arizona with my lovely cousin. I spent all night on Friday baking for our Thanksgiving weekend! It's really hard having only a very small toaster oven to cook with, but at least I have that. I think everything came out really well. Corn bread, apple crisp, and banana bread! 
The real Thanksgiving celebrations were this weekend. We got 2 Thanksgivings! It was awesome! The first was on Saturday at Serena and Max's house. We got there a little early to help out, but Serena had everything under control in the kitchen. She made both a turkey and a ham! There was a huge amount of food and all of it was delicious! I brought some banana breads made with Mom's recipe, and I think they came out perfectly. They tasted just like hers! I also brought an apple crisp, which isn't exactly up to her standards yet but was a million times better than the first one I made. Serena and Max had delicious chips and dip and American candies around the house too! We got peanut butter cups, 

Watching Koreans try turkey for the first time!

which we haven't had in a long time, and mint chocolate kisses! A bunch Serena and Max's friends came as did Master Hwang and Dae Eun from taekwondo. Gianni and I spent a good deal of the time talking to the two of them. We taught them about the food we were eating. Master Hwang didn't like that most of the food was sweet because he likes spicy food, but I think he enjoyed the ham, turkey, and banana bread. He even brought Serena and Max some toilet paper, which is a traditional gift you give someone when you go to their home for the first time. It's to wish them good luck and happiness as far as I understand. We had a great time chatting and eat until really late at night. Master Hwang was kind enough to drive us home. He wanted to see our sock collection. Ever since he saw me buying tons of socks in Seoul, he thinks I'm a "socks maniac," in his words. I've tried explaining that they were for family to no avail. We showed him the socks, and I also got him to take a look at the TV. He tried to get the cable working, but it turns out I only have one line to use for bot the cable and the internet, so I have to get the landlord to come fix it. Ugh! I feel terrible for all the problems we've been having with the place, but it's almost all set now!



The next day was more of a potluck Thanksgiving that Matthew and Maria hosted at their place. They are our married friends, and we always play quiz with them. They have an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and small living room downstairs, and their huge bedroom is upstairs. They had heard that you could order a turkey through the Daegu Compass, the foreigner magazine. The Compass brought turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce I believe. It's really nice that they have a service like this because you really can't buy whole turkeys here. Our friend, Marie, brought them a toaster oven and was in the middle of heating things when we arrived (late! because we got lost) with plates and cups for everyone to eat with. First, we went around the room and everyone said what they were thankful for. I said, "employment!" Everyone brought a dish, and boy are there some good cooks in the room. We had creamed corn, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. Gianni and I brought corn bread muffins, which Serena had to buy us the mix for because they don't have corn meal here. We also brought sweet potatoes. While we were making them, we realized that Korean sweet potatoes are not orange like at home. They taste basically the same, but they were this ugly, green-brown color by the end. We also had to eat them cold because the toaster oven was too small to heat up the big bowl we had. Still, several people said they were good, so that's okay! It was lovely sharing food with everyone and talking. We watched a little football and some Ohio State marching band shows. Maria and Matthew went there, and their marching band is incredible. After dinner, we had pumpkin pie, our extra banana bread, and Sian's milk tart for dessert. Sian is from South Africa, so she brought a South African dessert. It's like a custard pie, and it was really good! After dessert, we got into playing some card and board games. I learned to play some new card games and bananagrams! It was a really excellent time. Everyone left at around the same time in order to catch buses and trains home.

Despite the fact that we only met our friends here 4 months ago, it's been incredible getting to know them all. Having great friends who are in the same situation as you makes it so much easier to be away from family and friends back home. Thank you to Serena and Max and Matthew and Maria for hosting Thanksgivings this weekend, and thank you everyone for being such amazing friends to us!