Thanksgiving Part 2

This past weekend I went down to Gwanju to visit Jesse and Natalie to see their new home and celebrate Thanksgiving.  Gwanju is about a 3 hour bus ride from my home in Suwon.  The ride there was relatively simple and I was easily able to go to my bus terminal in Suwon, buy a ticket to Gwanju, board the bus, arrive at the Gwanju bus station, and take a taxi to their apartment.

Jesse and Natalie live in a high rise apartment like most people in Korea.  It was actually the first apartment I had been in though because everyone I know lives in Officetels which are studio apartments only about 6 (or so) stories high.  The high-rise apartment like Jesse and Natalie have are usually 2+ bedrooms and can be 20 (or so) stories high.

I had prepared some food on Friday night so that I could arrive on Saturday and we'd basically be all set.  Not having an oven (no one in Korea seems to have an oven!) made Thanksgiving a little difficult but I think not only did I manage, I aced my oven-less Thanksgiving test.  I made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, cream of mushroom soup, jello with fruit, and a no-bake pumpkin pie.  When I arrived in Gwanju on Saturday we finished up the stuffing that I had prepped, and some chicken gravy for the turkey chicken.  People in Korea don't eat turkey and while it is available in Costco and other specialty foreign marts, it was too expensive for us to justify.  Instead we settled on pre-cooked chicken from the Lotte Mart grocery store.  It certainly was nothing to brag about, but it sufficed.    





Jesse made the gravy while Natalie helped with the stuffing.  

Dinner was complete!  Time to sit down and say our thanks.  

Ta-Dah!  

Here is our Thanksgiving spread, chopsticks and all.  

From lower left: mashed potatoes, mushroom soup, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, 

jello, cranberry sauce, chicken, red wine. 

<-----  Our stuffing!

I could only find these rainbow marshmallows, 

but they tasted the same as regular ones.  ---->

<--- Natalie marvels over being able to eat Jell-O with chopsticks




































All things considered, I think it was a great dinner.  My favorite was, of course, the pumpkin pie!  I can't believe how good it turned out considering there was no baking involved whatsoever!  Huzzah!


***

After dinner we all went over to Jesse and Natalie's co-worker's apartment for a party.  Following that we went to downtown Gwanju to a bar where a lot of foreigners hang out.  Minus the creepy old Korean guy who kept hitting on Natalie and me, we had a great night dancing and laughing.

I am thankful for my family <3 

Thanksgiving Part 1

Today, Thursday October 26th, is Thanksgiving.

At school I traced my hand on the whiteboard and drew a turkey with a bright red wattle.  Next to it I wrote "Happy Thanksgiving!"

One kid came up to me and informed me that my picture did not look like a turkey.  But then a girl interjected and said that when she went to Kindergarten in Texas they drew turkeys like that too.  So yes, while it is true that the hand cut-outs do not look like a turkey, they damn-well are anyway.

Shortly after I got home from school I took a taxi to the Ingadong Home Plus and walked to the Korean buffet dinner that was organized by the Suwon Vegetarian Club.  I was a little weary about having Thanksgiving in a Korean restaurant, but it only cost w7,000 for an all-you-can-eat buffet and the prices at the Outback Steakhouse could not compare.

Behold my fabulous Thanksgiving feast!!  Ok, not so fabulous, but edible nonetheless.

To the right of the watermelon slice is some Ambrosia salad, corned mashed potatoes, a Korean pancake, coleslaw, 2 pieces of Tteokbokki, and some stir fry mix with broccoli.

I also had 2 bowls of pumpkin soup.

Hah!  Mashed potatoes and pumpkin soup.

I do declare a Thanksgiving meal after all!