Thanksgiving Day

I had a unique Thanksgiving Day experience this morning. At 11:00, St. Paul's Cathedral hosted a special Thanksgiving service for the American community in London. It's the 50th year in a row they've done it. There were about 2,500 people there, and all I heard were American accents all around me. I haven't been around so many Americans since I got here! It was a really nice service. The US ambassador was escorted in and even gave little speech. That was kind of neat. There were also a couple Americans who are ministers of local interdenominational churches who gave sermons. And we all sang a few hymns. Luckily 2 of them I actually knew from our own hymnbook. So it was a nice way to celebrate Thanksgiving across the pond. The ushers were, of course, British and one was being a bit too cheesy. He would ask people, "Have you eaten your pumpkin pie yet? (a dish they don't have)" and "Are you ready to go eat your turkey?" I don't know... it just sounded weird. I should've asked him if he was ready to go have a spot of tea.

All week I've been eating a giant pack of Russian dumplings with a friend. She has a kitchen so we always eat together. It's been great for saving money on food, and we've been attacking that giant 2.5 kg bag for the past few days with plenty to spare. But today we celebrated Thanksgiving by eating at Walkabout (an Australian pub) since they have real meals but still semi-cheap. I had the Southern Fried Chicken meal since it at least sounded American - the best I could do for an American holiday. Btw Tammy... I showed my friend the trick about making an energy ball and she flipped out with excitement when she did it.

I brought my football to Insititute so I could practice for Saturday's Turkey Bowl. A couple of the local guys were able to at least get it to another person, and they usually didn't have any problem catching it. So that gives me hope for a productive game. But one guy totally blew me away! Out of nowhere he was throwing perfect spirals and with good aim. Apparently he just likes the sport. Don't know where he picked that one up, but it'll be a big help on Saturday. We got trumped by the volleyball game that everyone else wanted to play, so I joined in that for a bit.

At one point, I left to go join a few other Americans (two from Seattle) to a pub that was showing the Seattle Dallas game. They were losing so bad though, that by the time I got there, they weren't really interested in watching anymore. Can't blame them.

So that was my Thanksgiving Day in London! I sure enjoyed it! I hope everything went smoothly back home. I sure could use a turkey sandwich right now. Yum...