This year's Thanksgiving was a little odd in that I did not actually celebrate on Thursday or in The United States. Thursday was a Teacher Inservice day. To celebrate Thanksgiving we went to Subway in Lorrach (the neighboring town). I was completely thrown off by this experience. I think because I was expecting it to be familiar, which means I forgot that I would still be in Germany, they would still speak in German, and it would be a subway German style (no toasting, different sandwich combos and toppings, as well as dressings). Added to this, three people trying to mediate for me does not help ease my frustration or confusion nor increase my comprehension level.
I also spent that evening staying up late to call various houses of family and friends that I knew were having celebrations, so that I could have a better chance of talking to more people. It was fun to hear all these voices that I hadn't heard for a long while, but also sad because I wasn't home to enjoy their company.
I started the official Thanksgiving day (Saturday) by attending the Anglican Church of Basel's Christmas Bazaar with Anne, Allison, Amy-Jo, and Delynn. I bought a candle holder and some earrings. It was fun to have the air of Christmas all around, even though we were going to be celebrating Thanksgiving later that day.
Amy-Jo and I finally headed back to Weil from Basel at about three. We were supposed to be at Diana's at four. We got home with just enough time to grab our desserts and walk over to her house. We ended up eating about about 4:30, which was pretty good timing. There were all sorts of people there from all sorts of places. Quite the ecclectic group of people all with the common thread of either knowing Diana or knowing someone who knows Diana. There were at least two people in the latter situation.
Before I forget, I must mention how there were fifty people who were invited, but only thirty-four of them showed up. We had taken the tables and chairs (6 Tables and at least, 35 to 40 chairs)from school to Diana's apartment, so that everyone could eat at a table, which made things very crowded in her living room. More crowded than you can imagine the most crowded of any American party you have been to. And, of course I chose the seat where I was literally trapped once everyone sat down. No seconds for me:)
During dinner I sat with Amy-Jo, Josie (the ESL teacher), Stephanie (a girl from Bible study who is from Portland, Oregon) and one of her former collegues from Germany (I forgot what part). After dinner, I shifted tables and got to spend some quality fun time with Janet (another girl from Bible study who is in Basel studying at the Music Academy), Stephan (a guy from Bible Study who is from Basel), Richard (Bible study guy from England), Elaine (a friend I met through my friends at Bible study who is from Ireland), and once he arrived, Josh (another guy from Bible study who is from Wisconsin). We had fun eating all the delicious desserts and playing with candles and orange peels. Richard ended up making a jack-o-lantern (this is the web address to a picture, http://cambridge.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=453652&id=547871265) out of a clementine peel and Stephan showed me how to create a spark using the oil from the peel in the candle flame. We ended up not leaving until about 10 or 11 pm.
The Thanksgiving holiday continued on into Sunday with a lunch at Diana's house of leftovers. She remembered to bring out the cranberry jelly (no whole cranberries:) I got to hear that great sucking sound it makes, which I had been trying, unsuccessfully, to describe to my European friends. They didn't get as much joy out of the sound as I did. In the past I have never been a particular fan of cold turkey sandwiches or pumpkin pie (especially out of a can, to which my mother can testify because I would only eat exactly one piece every year), but this year, it all tasted fantastic! I would have eaten thirds or fourths...maybe not on the same day.
Oh, I forgot to mention that there were at least 8 nationalities represented at dinner. How cool to have a European style Thanksgiving where it's a true uniting of the nations around a holiday that is home to only one!!!!!
(Another web address for Photos, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31514&id=706425168)
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