Thanksgiving? Ja, Erntedankfest. Ach soooo!

This was the week of Thanksgiving parties galore! It's almost like every American has to have a party! After finally finding a Mexican food restaurant on Monday night, it was time to attend my four Thanksgiving parties (although I ended up skipping one, which was just going to be a "I'm thankful for alcohol" kind of party anyway). My mom was here last weekend, and thank goodness, because she brought me pumpkin pie mix, green beans, and stuffing from the U.S., among other vermisste creature comforts (try explaining grits to people!). It seems like all day Friday we were searching for the things she couldn't bring, like pie crust and pie tins and a few requisite pans that we once had but were subsequently taken by the former roommate. Anyway, we baked and cooked all day Saturday. It was my turn to cook dinner for my Bible study this week, and I wanted to introduce all the Germans (and one Australian and one Namibian) to Thanksgiving since it is a foreign concept here. My mom did most of the work and I pretended to be useful:

My beautiful mother making the stuffing in my kitchen


















I was very nervous that my friends wouldn't like the food because it was all really American (especially the pumpkin pie--they don't have it here and admit it, it does sound bad if you think about it). Turkey here is really expensive since they eat goose for special occasions (like Christmas), so we had to make do with some seasoned frozen turkey pieces that were sorta blasphemous if you want to celebrate Thanksgiving right. Whatever, roll with the punches, right?

Digging in to the stuffing at my Bible study (I STILL have leftovers, in typical Thanksgiving fashion)











Doing the dishes--with 15 people, dinner, dessert, lots of juice and coffee drinking, usw., this was a strenuous activity!
















I had to include this picture--these are two girls in my church who are wonderful. Here they are blowing kisses as a thank-you to me (unbeknownst to me at the time)









Wednesday all the Fulbrighters present and past got together to celebrate Thanksgiving, with I estimate about 100 attendees in total. The event started with a couple of speeches that had nothing to do with Thanksgiving (or giving thanks, for that matter) and pretty much found ways to bash the U.S. Typical. Then we dug into the food. Fulbright provided turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and sweet potatoes, but it was also a potluck:
The HUGE selection of items brought by Fulbrighters. I ate like five desserts, including some of my own very delicious pumpkin pie
















Finally, on Friday night Calvin, one of my American friends (from Humboldt) had a Thanksgiving party at his apartment. It was like a zoo--more and more people kept coming, and the party went well into the night, long after the food was gone. I had a blast. I also realized just how small the world is. A guy from Harvard Linguistics who's a year older than I am walked into the party and I couldn't believe it! He studies math with Calvin. What's even odder is that he's in choir with my Australian friend Jeremy, who goes to church with me and also knows Calvin. He also knows the guy I was talking to at the moment (who's half-American and in a punk band--I just may be going to my first punk concert!). He also dated a girl who is in my English-teaching program, and studied abroad with another girl in the program. Anyway, I knew Jim was in Berlin last year but had no idea he was still here--he's getting a Master's or doctorate in math. Nice to have a little slice of the ling department with me here in Berlin!

This photo epitomizes Calvin--his papers and junk are strewn about everywhere, and he just set the food down right next to all his mess. Turkey, stuffing, cornbread, gravy all tasted great!










People enjoying the food. Unassuming guy in punk band in back, talking to the guy who called me a monster (they're friends--small world again; for monster reference see my old posts; happy to report we avoided talking to each other to avoid name-calling)








The way home was interesting. It was quite late at night and I was with a bunch of rambunctious German teenage boys. Never thought I'd be in the same party as those people who put stickers all over the subway and spill beer everywhere. I think this guy below sums up well how nights usually end for young people here:

Today I had Kaffee und Kuchen--a very German tradition--with a bunch of women from my church group. I wish I had time to tell you about my school experiences this week, as I have some real gems. But alas, I need to run off to a jazz concert now. Will try to devote an entire post to school soon!