I had a happy Thanksgiving!
First. I will give my "Thanksgiving Story" as I rather crudely remember it.
Thanksgiving, an American holiday (apparently many Americans don't know this), celebrates the occasion, hundreds of years ago, when the Pilgrims were starving because they didn't know how to survive once it started getting cold and the Native Americans, despite being treated like shit, I am sure, supplied the Pilgrims with food like "Maize" and saved the white people's asses. This is my summary of something I am pretty sure we all learned in 1st grade when we made pilgrim hats out of paper.
Over the years, it has evolved into another commercial holiday that revolves around excess. No gift giving here, but we binge without purging, except perhaps our guilty minds when we actually express gratitude on that one day a year. Turkeys weighing more than small children, casseroles, yams, pies, rolls, vegetables, salads, dips, desserts, and all sorts of dishes are prepared and consumed on this day. In my family we also say a prayer giving thanks for family, friends, and food (basically). In my family we also choose to do the "gather all the family within a reasonable distance despite the inevitable drama" method. We have family members from all over, who may or may not really get along, and we all get together to binge and thank together.
Once we got old enough, my sister Meghann and I started helping... I eventually got the official dessert duty because I was the only person in the family that could bake a pie. I have to admit, I make the best peach pies around. If anyone has had it - you can vouch for that.
So, all that tradition listed right there? I had none of it.
I woke up at 6:00 am and then went back to sleep until 6:30 am. Then I got up so that I could go to my class on German politics. After that class I went back to my room to catch up on my e-mails and whatnot, and I got a myspace message from Julia saying that we were on for our usual Thursday rendesvous in the Altstadt. We were to meet at a coffee shop near the Bismarckplatz, but since we live in the same building we ended up at the same busstop. Yeah, we are awesome like that. We started out by going to coffee at Lavazza (overpriced, but good) and had little focaccia sandwiches (not turkey) and she had tea while I had a Latte Macchiato con Crema di N...something or rather. It had haselnut. Anyway, it was a lovely lunch, and from there we did our usual hitting up the shops along the Hauptstrasse We had all sorts of good times chatting and shopping and getting groceries at the market. I think the highlight was probably when we were in the Lacoste store and Julia went into a dressing room to try on a polo, came out with it on, and after deciding it was too short forgot to go back into the dressing room before removing the shirt. It isn't that bad, she was wearing a camisole underneath, but it was kind of... awkward with the salesman standing right there... I find awkward things funny. Anyway, while walking back to the BP to catch the bus, I noticed that it was snowing - heck yes.
Back at the 129 we went to Julia's and gathered the dinner making ingredients and whatnot. I then recalled that it had been a laundry day and had to run downstairs to get the clothes from the dryer. I had been in a rush earlier and had just left everything there except for the things I had brought upstairs to hang to dry. Most of the things I just hanged in random places in my room, but I had handwashed my strapless bra and decided to hang it on my balcony to not drench my room. Anyway, back at Julia's room she was making Corn Flake "Fried" Chicken (Luke's recipe) which is actually baked, and we were going to also have rice and green beans. About halfway through the chicken baking Julia decided that we were too lazy and asked if it was okay if we just had apples and toast. Fine by me. So, then we had our dinner of Chicken (Luke, if you ever read this, we had mashed potatoes and gravy and normally I don't like mashed potatoes at all, but Julia's were so amazingly good that I enjoyed them more than I enjoy the best Swiss chocolate or an orgasm or something...), apples, and toast... served with chilled sparkling apple juice. After that, we went to Julia's to have the cake that I had purchased for her birthday. It was a nice little cake with poppy seeds and some drizzled frosting... quite good. We also watched a show about Shakira on Mtv. Once it started getting late-ish I headed back to my room, and Julia received a call anyway, and I decided to get back onto the lovely internet with things like e-mail and messengers. Joy.
I actually had a lovely evening chatting with Noelle (as usual) and a friend here in Germany. I talk to these two a ton... they keep me relatively sane... or at least at a tolerable level of insanity. Don't worry, I have real live friends too. I am not still a loser... completely. I also talked to my sister, Meghann, and my mom for a little while as well. I didn't have a particularly traditional or meaningful thanksgiving, but I really didn't feel like it took away from my life at all. It was kind of like any other good day.
Today was pretty dull, I went to my class and then headed back to finally clean my room and rearrange it a bit. I like it now, I face outside instead of a wall when I am at my desk. I had planned on heading to Stuttgart today, but as I sometimes fail to plan ahead (you should be surprised... I am a very neurotic person mostly) and so I didn't hear back from Emily, who I had planned on staying with. I was very productive because of the waiting though... instead of deciding to go out and do something else, I confined myself to my room to wait for Julia to bring my forgotten coat or for Emily to e-mail, and in that time I cleaned and rearranged my room and caught up on all my e-mails and made my bed and all sorts of things. I basically think too much when I don't have something to do though, so that has been fun.
Okay. I'm done.
Tomorrow I will go to Nuertingen for the "Thanksgiving" german style with the other Oregon kids and the Oregon German Alumni. Should be fun. I will get to see all my friends this time, even Morgan! Whom I have missed.
Thanksgiving, an American holiday (apparently many Americans don't know this), celebrates the occasion, hundreds of years ago, when the Pilgrims were starving because they didn't know how to survive once it started getting cold and the Native Americans, despite being treated like shit, I am sure, supplied the Pilgrims with food like "Maize" and saved the white people's asses. This is my summary of something I am pretty sure we all learned in 1st grade when we made pilgrim hats out of paper.
Over the years, it has evolved into another commercial holiday that revolves around excess. No gift giving here, but we binge without purging, except perhaps our guilty minds when we actually express gratitude on that one day a year. Turkeys weighing more than small children, casseroles, yams, pies, rolls, vegetables, salads, dips, desserts, and all sorts of dishes are prepared and consumed on this day. In my family we also say a prayer giving thanks for family, friends, and food (basically). In my family we also choose to do the "gather all the family within a reasonable distance despite the inevitable drama" method. We have family members from all over, who may or may not really get along, and we all get together to binge and thank together.
Once we got old enough, my sister Meghann and I started helping... I eventually got the official dessert duty because I was the only person in the family that could bake a pie. I have to admit, I make the best peach pies around. If anyone has had it - you can vouch for that.
So, all that tradition listed right there? I had none of it.
I woke up at 6:00 am and then went back to sleep until 6:30 am. Then I got up so that I could go to my class on German politics. After that class I went back to my room to catch up on my e-mails and whatnot, and I got a myspace message from Julia saying that we were on for our usual Thursday rendesvous in the Altstadt. We were to meet at a coffee shop near the Bismarckplatz, but since we live in the same building we ended up at the same busstop. Yeah, we are awesome like that. We started out by going to coffee at Lavazza (overpriced, but good) and had little focaccia sandwiches (not turkey) and she had tea while I had a Latte Macchiato con Crema di N...something or rather. It had haselnut. Anyway, it was a lovely lunch, and from there we did our usual hitting up the shops along the Hauptstrasse We had all sorts of good times chatting and shopping and getting groceries at the market. I think the highlight was probably when we were in the Lacoste store and Julia went into a dressing room to try on a polo, came out with it on, and after deciding it was too short forgot to go back into the dressing room before removing the shirt. It isn't that bad, she was wearing a camisole underneath, but it was kind of... awkward with the salesman standing right there... I find awkward things funny. Anyway, while walking back to the BP to catch the bus, I noticed that it was snowing - heck yes.
Back at the 129 we went to Julia's and gathered the dinner making ingredients and whatnot. I then recalled that it had been a laundry day and had to run downstairs to get the clothes from the dryer. I had been in a rush earlier and had just left everything there except for the things I had brought upstairs to hang to dry. Most of the things I just hanged in random places in my room, but I had handwashed my strapless bra and decided to hang it on my balcony to not drench my room. Anyway, back at Julia's room she was making Corn Flake "Fried" Chicken (Luke's recipe) which is actually baked, and we were going to also have rice and green beans. About halfway through the chicken baking Julia decided that we were too lazy and asked if it was okay if we just had apples and toast. Fine by me. So, then we had our dinner of Chicken (Luke, if you ever read this, we had mashed potatoes and gravy and normally I don't like mashed potatoes at all, but Julia's were so amazingly good that I enjoyed them more than I enjoy the best Swiss chocolate or an orgasm or something...), apples, and toast... served with chilled sparkling apple juice. After that, we went to Julia's to have the cake that I had purchased for her birthday. It was a nice little cake with poppy seeds and some drizzled frosting... quite good. We also watched a show about Shakira on Mtv. Once it started getting late-ish I headed back to my room, and Julia received a call anyway, and I decided to get back onto the lovely internet with things like e-mail and messengers. Joy.
I actually had a lovely evening chatting with Noelle (as usual) and a friend here in Germany. I talk to these two a ton... they keep me relatively sane... or at least at a tolerable level of insanity. Don't worry, I have real live friends too. I am not still a loser... completely. I also talked to my sister, Meghann, and my mom for a little while as well. I didn't have a particularly traditional or meaningful thanksgiving, but I really didn't feel like it took away from my life at all. It was kind of like any other good day.
Today was pretty dull, I went to my class and then headed back to finally clean my room and rearrange it a bit. I like it now, I face outside instead of a wall when I am at my desk. I had planned on heading to Stuttgart today, but as I sometimes fail to plan ahead (you should be surprised... I am a very neurotic person mostly) and so I didn't hear back from Emily, who I had planned on staying with. I was very productive because of the waiting though... instead of deciding to go out and do something else, I confined myself to my room to wait for Julia to bring my forgotten coat or for Emily to e-mail, and in that time I cleaned and rearranged my room and caught up on all my e-mails and made my bed and all sorts of things. I basically think too much when I don't have something to do though, so that has been fun.
Okay. I'm done.
Tomorrow I will go to Nuertingen for the "Thanksgiving" german style with the other Oregon kids and the Oregon German Alumni. Should be fun. I will get to see all my friends this time, even Morgan! Whom I have missed.