Thanksgiving in England

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! It was a little strange walking around town and seeing stores open and people out running errands like it was just another day. I guess to the English, today was just a normal Thursday. Many of them haven't even heard of Thanksgiving! I had to attend a seminar at school today, but afterwards we headed to Bidford-upon-Avon to have our Thanksgiving feast! One of my American classmates, Isaac, lives in Bidford, which is the town next to Stratford. He even bought a cheap car and drives to class everyday...considering how different the cars and roads are here, he's a really good driver! About 15 American students and 6 English students came to Isaac's house for our potluck Thanksgiving dinner. We had quite a spread...turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, many casseroles, rolls, macaroni and cheese, and lots of desserts including...pumpkin pie! I've been craving pumpkin-flavored foods (who doesn't this time of the year?), but you can't buy pumpkin-flavored foods OR canned pumpkin to make pumpkin-flavored foods anywhere in England. They just don't sell it here! The lady who made the pumpkin pie (she's from New York) had to actually buy a pumpkin and carve it to make the pie! It was fun getting to tell the English people about the history of Thanksgiving, and letting them try American food. They seemed to really enjoy it, and said that everything was "beautiful" and "lovely." We had Americans there from North Carolina, Louisiana, Texas, Colorodo, Seattle, New York, and Canada (I guess Canadians are technically Americans, since they're from North America) so we compared and contrasted the way different regions celebrate Thanksgiving. I learned that the Canadian Thanksgiving is in October! Dinner was wonderful - I definitely pigged out...we have some great chefs at my school! After the meal, we all watched the third "Lord of the Rings," and a few episodes of a British comedy show called "Blackadder." "Blackadder" is set in the 1600s, and Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. Mr. Bean) plays the main character. It's SO funny! It was sad being away from my friends and family on Thanksgiving, but I got to talk to nearly all of my relatives, and having our English Thanksgiving celebration made me less homesick. Today (it's 12:30 a.m. right now) is Tooley's 23rd birthday! At midnight, I brought up a cake and she blew out the candles and opened her present. So far she's gotten a couple of goodies from me, and lots of candy from Marfo and Michelle. We then proceeded to eat half of the cake! Tomorrow night after I get out of class, a bunch of us are going to eat dessert and maybe go dancing. Despite being away from family and friends, I would say today was really great! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Oh, and there's a 60% chance of SNOW tomorrow!

Hannah, me, and Catherine waiting for the food to be ready (sorry...the picture is a little blurry)

Isaac with his delicious turkey

The crowd is getting restless...

Part of our spread...there was also a whole other table filled with food!


For some reason, the rest of my pictures aren't loading, so I'll post them tomorrow!