Well, just because I stopped posting on here for a while doesn't mean I've stopped having MADventures. This post will cover the GLADventure that was Thanksgiving.
Prior to Thanksgiving, I was not having a particularly wonderful time. Many things seemed to be going wrong. Then a truly wonderful thing occurred! Alex took pity on me and invited me to spend Thanksgiving, the most American of holidays, with him and his friend Nat and Nat's family in Dallas. I had never celebrated Thanksgiving before, but I'd heard that a lot of food was involved. I got excited. I baked a pie in preparation. I should mention at this point that I had never met Nat or his family before.
So, merrily, Alex and I set off for Dallas on a happy Tuesday afternoon. After getting stuck behind some SLOW people on 77, eventually we were on our way. We stopped in Davis, OK to get a fried pie. I had a peach one and Alex got blackberry, supplemented with some frozen custard (of course!) and picked up a blackberry one for Nat.
We arrived and were immediately made very welcome. I was assured that Nat's family often have random foreign students staying with them, so I was not out of the ordinary. They were excited about my pie, which was kind (they'd not tasted it at that point). Most beautiful to see was the loving embrace with which Alex and Nat greeted each other. If angels had started singing in the background, I wouldn't have been surprised. After being well fed, the guitar and banjo came out. Nat had only recently purchased the banjo but was already masterful on it. Alex and Nat performed several beautiful duets, mostly songs I didn't know the names of. One of Nat's friends came over and brought his new girlfriend, who was also a musical marvel. She was super friendly and before long was playing us a little ditty she had written for her boyfriend on the old piano forte. The only lines I can remember at present are 'hooooooolding hands' and 'I adooooooore you'. She had quite a voice, and it was a tender moment for everyone.
Once the visitors had left and the wee small hours of the morning rolled around, we took a trip to Kroeger (I LOVE Kroeger... more on that later) to buy Easy Bake cookies. Finally, I met someone who rivals my love of all sweets/cakes/cookies/dessert foods! Upon our return, Nat baked the cookies and made us tea (in the cutest little teapot ever) and we settled down to watch a film: Poultrygeist, night of the chicken dead. It was a sweet film, with all the magic ingredients, gore, college lesbians, giant chickens. I knew right then it would be a wonderful holiday.
On the Wednesday we picked up Nat's girlfriend from the airport and then went for pho. Yum. I get a little confused about what happened in what order after that, but there was more singing, guitar and banjo playing, more food, and then a trip to a Western outfitters to get boots for Mikang. Later that evening we went to a Korean barbeque place and virtually ate our weight in barbeque. I'm pretty sure we were all sweating barbeque by the time we left, it was great. On the way back we went to Kroeger and I suddenly found the British foods section. GREAT EXCITEMENT! Chocolate hobnobs! Chocolate fingers! Magic! I don't know if I've ever been so happy! Even better, Alex found cock soup in the Caribbean section. Big smiles galore.
The following was The Day. Thanksgiving. We woke up late and the boys went for a run. I followed behind on a walk. Unfortunately, I'd declined to take my phone out with me, so predictably got very, very lost. It was only when Nat's Dad happened to drive past and point out that I was heading in the wrong direction that I could find my way back. However, during my mishaps in the greater Grand Prairie area, I did manage to catch a runaway dog and return it to it's owners. Yeah, I'm a heroine, I know. Not so long after my triumphant return, once everyone had showered and changed, the appetizers started appearing and guests began arriving. I cannot even begin to describe how good the food was. i ate so many appetizers I thought for sure I'd never manage to eat the actual Thanksgiving meal. However, it was simply so good that I battled though. Then had seconds. Then had dessert. Then had seconds of that. Each and every part of that meal was exquisite! It is making me hungry just thinking of it now, and I've just eaten ice cream.
After a suitably horizontal period, during which Nat and Alex regaled us with beautiful melodies (so beautiful that it did in fact make one woman cry, I spotted), we made our way to Nat's friends house. We played some pool and then Alex and I watched everyone play mahjong. It looked complicated. I believe I passed out with tiredness and over-excitement as soon as we got back.
Sadly, Friday we had to leave :( Alex left early, so I went with Nat's parents to take him to the airport. It was a little bizarre to be at a family goodbye. I was catching the Amtrak (another adventure!) in Fort Worth, so they kindly took me to Fort Worth and we spent a merry couple of hours wandering around the city. I bought some Christmas presents, we ate Mexican food... you know, the usual things. They dropped me off at the station and made sure I got my ticket. I spent the next three hours (yes, it takes longer to ride the train than to drive, I am still puzzled by this) eating the chocolate hobnobs and colouring in my Jesus colouring book. Only on the Heartland Flyer is that an acceptable activity for an adult, I believe.
I would like to thank Nat and his parents for letting me sample an American Thanksgiving with them and for making me so welcome, and Alex for taking me with him on this wonderful adventure. I can barely describe how awesome it was, the best I can do is the following three word statement: sunshine and sparkles.
-Charlotte, the lady half of Charrrel.
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