Giving Thanks.

I'm used to being home for Thanksgiving. I generally spend the day lazing about, offering to help but trying to stay out of the way as much as possible.

This year, on Thanksgiving, I went to class. Right around the time I would normally be sitting down to a massive home-cooked feast with my family, I was sitting in class, working on my Japanese speaking and listening skills. This was seriously depressing.

Luckily, a couple of the other American students (and one Canadian) in my dorm had planned a Thanksgiving party for that night. Earlier in the week they journeyed to the nearest CostCo (which isn't near at all...over an hour by train, I believe?) to buy food in bulk for the holiday, and they were cooking and baking up a storm when I came home. As I made mac & cheese for our welcome potluck, I was recruited to make it again, only a much larger amount.

Turkey is hard to come by in Japan, so we had rotisserie chicken instead. We also had mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, corn on the cob, dinner rolls, salad, an assortment of Japanese food (including yakisoba made by the new house managers), and a variety of beverages. (I'm sure there were other kinds of food, but sadly I'm a bit late on posting about this and have forgotten.)

We invited a bunch of students living in apartments or other dorms, as well as the two Americans working in the Rits International Center. The turnout was great, and most of the people there had never experienced Thanksgiving before.

I definitely missed having turkey and stuffing with my family, but I'm so thankful for my time here in Kyoto that it was hard to stay homesick for long. Having Thanksgiving with people I've only known for a few months, 6000 miles from home, with chopsticks was much more comforting than I ever could have imagined.