Thanksgiving and the aftermath

I actually found a pie plate and fresh ginger, allowing me to begin my Thanksgiving the wee smalls of the morning with apple pie making. (Kate couldn't resist the pun that she was glad it panned out.) I'd gotten good news Wednesday night - one of my students wants class 5 days a week, 2 hours a day! - and had gone to Dragana's to gush a bit, ended up chatting with folks there, going for cevap... yes, yes, you've heard this all before. What was different though was getting home at midnight with a pie to make for a dinner that started at 3 p.m. that day. So I watched "Funny Face" as I peeled apples, talked to some folks back home and had a pie ready to go around 3:30 a.m. or so. The joys of night baking.

I had a class with my printer student, then came home with the TV he's loaned me (super rad) before gathering things to go pick up Cassandra, my Thanksgiving date. Once again the taxi had no idea where Eric's street was but managed to get there nonetheless. It was a crowd of mostly embassy types, Cassie and I were exceptions since she's running a NGO here and I'm, well, an English teacher. Made some friends that I hope to see soon - we're going to start cooking together with Andrea, from Chili and married to an American (she claims to be one of the few Latino women who doesn't cook), had someone else tell me to take the foreign service exam (ummmmm, don't think so), also planning on a Beastie Boys inspired games night. Yes my friends, I might appear to be classy but that never stopped games nights! Thankfully. I also realized as the afternoon wore on that Cassie and I were basically the only non-couple there; do you have to be married to be in foreign service? This is my question. But we were definitely fun, there's no doubt about that. Any gathering where you end up reading picture books to 5 year old twins, well, heeelllllo? MAJOR party action there.

We ate a TON of food, I've not been that stuffed in a long time. Turkey was 25 lbs. and fabulous, they did it in brine and then with citrus, no stuffing. And the desserts... truly wondrous. Pies and brownies and peanut butter cookies... yum. Perhaps I'll take up Sally's idea of becoming a food columnist sometime sooner than later, we'll see. Got a ride to Cassie's with the thought of continuing the festivities but I was exhausted (little sleep + turkey = fatigue) so headed home instead. Then had the joy of talking to the Qualls crew gathered at my home for a good long while; I really hope to be there next year if it's at all possible.

Unlike most of my fellow Americans who work here, I did not have a four-day weekend (being a "private contractor") and went back to the grind of classes the next day. Thankfully I was able to get outside a bit in the sun on Saturday since I had a huge hole in my schedule with teen classes and had lunch at this new restaurant Wok to Walk - clever eh? It almost felt like a real weekend... until I had to go back to class. Again, a lament you've heard so I won't repeat it too terribly much. Or at least try not to. But it looks like I'll be working everyday before I get back to the states; that's something to be thankful for as well I suppose.

Hope you also had a fine time with food, friends, and family. I'm getting excited about Christmas time festivities now and all the fun that'll be.