Thanksgiving 2011

Celebrating a uniquely American holiday overseas can be special and strange. Nothing marks the day; you experience it privately since there's no public. We often felt that way about Sundays in Japan; attending church those mornings made you feel utterly alone, since 120 million others were oblivious.

But we had each other at Pepperdine's IP and the knowledge the day was being observed back home in mass numbers. Because we were facing 96, we catered the turkey, preparing the gravy, dressings (chestnut/cornbread/sausage/sage AND curried apple with dates), pies, plus biscuits at the last minute - ie the authentic flavors.

Carolyn used African sweet potatoes - one advantage of increased African immigration is a much larger variety of potatoes - for a twist on the American casserole. Stephanie guided students through pie-making sessions and I roasted one turkey for personal leftovers, filling the hotel with aroma, but frantically carved it in the end - not enough meat! Made me wish I'd roasted all the turkeys myself.

BTW, allrecipes.com has been a lifesaver, with 1000s of reviewed recipes, with a metric conversion and serving portion adjuster.

It felt good gathering supplies - beautiful mushrooms, fresh herbs, and a magnificent French bird that I brined in freshly pressed apple cider.

We ordered sandwiches for lunch, freeing up the kitchen for prep. Frances and Hope separating thyme leaves.

The turkey's in! The professional oven - convection, steamed air - cooks quickly and the custom-fitted pans have edges that slide into a choice of a dozen slots; no racks needed. I want!

Pie-making sessions: apple, pumpkin, & pecan.

Michael really loves helping, interacting, etc. Checkout the Tintin iron-on t-shirt (party favors)

The students did a beautiful job, hauling tables from upstairs classrooms, forming an E-shaped banquet table setting. I opened with a few words, noting only a 1/2 of the colony survived that first Thanksgiving - btw, George Soule, from whom Carolyn descends, was present that first feast - and read Psalm 100 (as the Pilgrims had), then prayed.

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George Soule's tombstone in MA.

The Soule house (recreated)

A colorful character it seems, George was an original signer of the Mayflower Compact (thank-you Wikipedia!) & part of the illustrative lineage that includes Dick Van Dyke, Richard Gere.

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Giving thanks is mainstreamed as a cultural practice, but like all secularized conventions - say, notions of calling - there remains the question: who is the addressee? To whom are we conveying our thanks? Whatever the intent, somewhat remains stuck in a self-congratulatory mode.

But we had fun, too; the guys wore ties, gals dresses, some donning turkey hats.

Michael insisted on wearing his bowler hat.

This year's group is very diverse by most criteria - ethnicity, religion, nationality - yet very similar by another measure. I recall our church in Ithaca, NY, a large university fellowship, with tremendous diversity - people routinely high-fived themselves on their mutual differences - was actually quite homogeneous.

Diversity there would've included the non-intellectual, working class from the lower-income valley below. The higher ed crowd indeed came from all around the world, representing myriad languages and diets, yet everyone met identical criteria, having passed through similar hoops.

Our group of 96 (!) total had a wonderful time, preparing, cooking, decorating, and feasting together. Lausanners 2011-2012 seem contentedly independent, given the many support networks now provided here for food, conversation, entertainment; they just kinda settled in here, as did we.

Still, Thanksgiving will be a highlight of the year, as the students really want time together, desiring community & a chance to experience home life, however makeshift.