This year Thanksgiving was much different from my normal tradition of eating a huge meal with family at home in Kansas City. Instead, on the Friday before Thanksgiving (because I was heading to Tokyo and would miss the actual day), a large group of friends and I got together for our own Thanksgiving.
Earlier that day I gave a speech at the Rotary Club. I got picked up by Takaya-san and he brought me to the Rotary Club meeting. It was held in a room in a really beautiful shrine-like building. It was a really interesting meeting. Just a bunch of men and one woman. I'm not really sure what they usually do, but during this meeting they met for lunch, which was provided by the restaurant downstairs, and then opened the meeting. I was the main speaker for the day and I gave a half an hour speech on my experiences living in Japan. I actually think it went over fairly well, though it was a little intimidating giving a speech in Japanese in front of a group of 12-15 Japanese adults. They even gave me a really nice gift at the end; Japanese sweets and 10,000 yen (ie. $100).
I went home and began cooking almost immediately. Technically we had decided that our Thanksgiving dinner should be potluck because there would be a lot of us and also none of us have ovens...making cooking Thanksgiving dinner quite difficult. However, I had most of the day off and most people didn't have enough time to make real meals so I decided to make corn bread, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and brownies. Now, the kicker is...I don't have an oven. How did I make green bean casserole, brownies and corn bread without an oven? especially since I can't cook to begin with? Well the secret is...the Japanese microwave. It is also and oven. Yes I made casserole in my microwave....crazy :)
In the end we all went to Jason's apartment for dinner, since he lives just across the street (though he has since moved into Kyoto city for work). It was all of us JETs except Kim-chi who was in Himeji, Mayu, Nanami, their 2 friends, Jason, and Akiko (who I met at Mister Donuts one morning . She had just moved to Kameoka from St. Louis of all places. She heard me speaking English and asked if I was from the States. Then we found out about our St. Louis connection).
It was really amazing. The turkey was delicious, and we had everything that normal goes with Thanksgiving dinner, even cranberry sauce (everything except family of course). It was nice to know that even here I can still have some connection with home. We were able to share American culture with some of our Japanese friends, which was awesome because it's like my job is meshing with my real life. We taught them how to make hand turkeys and then they gave me one as a birthday card. International relations...cultural exchange...in real life. All mixed with good food :)
After dinner we had the awesome pumpkin pie that Laurel made. Then Nanami brought in my birthday present...a cute little flower pot with a plant in it. It also had a little rabbit patchwork doll she had made, thinking rabbits had something to do with Thanksgiving. It was adorable. They shut off the lights and came in with the candles lit and everything. It was so sweet. I couldn't believe that after such a short time I had such good friends here.
Earlier that day I gave a speech at the Rotary Club. I got picked up by Takaya-san and he brought me to the Rotary Club meeting. It was held in a room in a really beautiful shrine-like building. It was a really interesting meeting. Just a bunch of men and one woman. I'm not really sure what they usually do, but during this meeting they met for lunch, which was provided by the restaurant downstairs, and then opened the meeting. I was the main speaker for the day and I gave a half an hour speech on my experiences living in Japan. I actually think it went over fairly well, though it was a little intimidating giving a speech in Japanese in front of a group of 12-15 Japanese adults. They even gave me a really nice gift at the end; Japanese sweets and 10,000 yen (ie. $100).
I went home and began cooking almost immediately. Technically we had decided that our Thanksgiving dinner should be potluck because there would be a lot of us and also none of us have ovens...making cooking Thanksgiving dinner quite difficult. However, I had most of the day off and most people didn't have enough time to make real meals so I decided to make corn bread, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and brownies. Now, the kicker is...I don't have an oven. How did I make green bean casserole, brownies and corn bread without an oven? especially since I can't cook to begin with? Well the secret is...the Japanese microwave. It is also and oven. Yes I made casserole in my microwave....crazy :)
In the end we all went to Jason's apartment for dinner, since he lives just across the street (though he has since moved into Kyoto city for work). It was all of us JETs except Kim-chi who was in Himeji, Mayu, Nanami, their 2 friends, Jason, and Akiko (who I met at Mister Donuts one morning . She had just moved to Kameoka from St. Louis of all places. She heard me speaking English and asked if I was from the States. Then we found out about our St. Louis connection).
It was really amazing. The turkey was delicious, and we had everything that normal goes with Thanksgiving dinner, even cranberry sauce (everything except family of course). It was nice to know that even here I can still have some connection with home. We were able to share American culture with some of our Japanese friends, which was awesome because it's like my job is meshing with my real life. We taught them how to make hand turkeys and then they gave me one as a birthday card. International relations...cultural exchange...in real life. All mixed with good food :)
After dinner we had the awesome pumpkin pie that Laurel made. Then Nanami brought in my birthday present...a cute little flower pot with a plant in it. It also had a little rabbit patchwork doll she had made, thinking rabbits had something to do with Thanksgiving. It was adorable. They shut off the lights and came in with the candles lit and everything. It was so sweet. I couldn't believe that after such a short time I had such good friends here.
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