Thanksgiving: the EPIC meal!

From the first few weeks of our time here, me and my friends Kelsey and Stevens decided that we needed to cook a Thanksgiving dinner while we were in Scotland. Lots of planning and shopping culimated yesterday in one of the most amazing holiday celebrations I've ever had.

We got all got up at 7:00 AM to start "babysitting" our two 18 pound turkeys. This meant changing their water bath every 30 minutes in a last minute effort to defrost them quickly. About 11:00 we filled a giant suitcase with all our groceries. It took five people to carry all our food out from our dorm to a car, and I can imagine we looked pretty hilarious carrying two huge turkeys and a massive suitcase full of food through campus.

Our church was gracious enough to let us cook/host our dinner at the church building, which was amazing because it meant that we got to use two industrial size kitchens. Somehow, astonishingly, we needed BOTH kitchens, which were seperated by three flights of stairs, so we a good bit of running up and down!

We did prep work, mostly peeling and chopping our THIRTY pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes, until it was time to do the really scary part....the turkeys. I should note here that none of the three of us who were cooking have ever cooked a Thanksgiving meal, or really even cooked any of the dishes we needed to make. And we definitely hadn't ever touched a turkey. So we unwrap the massive birds, and much to our horror, they were still totally frozen inside. We couldn't even reach our hands into the cavity because the necks were still frozen. One of the birds was one of the ugliest, most deformed things I have ever seen--and it was still covered in gross, sharp pinfeathers, which I had to pluck out by hand. Not to mention that the bloody plastic bag filled with giblets burst inside as we were trying to pull it out of the frozen solid cavity. We got desperate and started doing all kinds of things with hot water that probably violated a million health sanitation codes for preparing meat, and finally melted the cores enough that we could start the roasting. It was like a scene from some sort of ridiculous comedy, these three college students running around and freaking out over these turkeys.
Here was our ambitious menu which we worked on the rest of the afternoon as the turkeys roasted:

-Garlic mashed potatoes (we got to use an industrial size masher--so much fun!)

-Sweet potato cassarole

-Stuffing, the real made-from-scratch kind (this took hours of prep and I was very excited that it turned out so well, because it's my favorite holiday dish)

-Cranberry sauce w/ orange and pecans (so pretty!)

-Baked macaroni and cheese

-Yorkshire puddings (these are little hollowed out bread rolls)

-Pumpkin and apple pies with homemade whipped cream. This was quite a feat, because you can't buy canned pumpkin over here, so Stevens had to bring this back from the States.

-and of course, turkey gravy. This was my crowning achievement. Of all the things I was cooking for the first time, I was most nervous about making this. I just threw in some random amounts of flour, butter, and turkey fat and started whisking frantically.....and voila, it made the most beautiful turkey gravy I have ever seen. I actually started jumping up and down in the kitchen!

By some miracle it all came together by the time our guests arrived at 6:30! We were feeding 21 people, so I was nervous about running out of food, but somehow we just kept dishing it out with more to spare. We had friends from Scotland, England, France, Germany, India, China, and America gathered around eating giant plates of food. For most people, it was their first time celebrating Thanksgiving, and there were a few who had never tasted turkey before. I know some of the dishes were very unusual for them (most people were especially surprised by the concept of adding sugar and spices to sweet potatoes) but everyone seemed to really enjoy the food and have a wonderful time together. Some lovely Scottish gals rolled up their sleeves and pitched right in, helping us with the giant loads of dishes and carving up the two birds until they were reduced to bones. I was so grateful for their help and encouragement all evening (not to mention my friend Fiona, who made us cup after cup of hot tea as we cooked all day). It was so wonderful to peak out from the kitchen and see all these people, many of whom did not know each other, mingling and enjoying each other's company.

After hours of cooking and cleaning, eating until I was sick, and enjoying some laughter and good conversation, we finally got home around midnight. I was so filled with the happy adrenaline of the day that I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours. I honestly couldn't believe we pulled it off, and I feel so much more confident in my culinary abilities from this moment forward! But more than that, I was so grateful to be surrounded last night by a group of really wonderful friends from so many corners of the globe. This was the most unique, amazing Thanksgiving I've ever had, and I know it's one I'll never forget!

a Thanksgiving Day like no other

Today has probably been the most unique Thanksgiving of my life.

First, I woke up feeling thankful...for sunny BLUE SKIES! This is so rare in Glasgow and I am convinced it happened just for the Americans who were all missing home. Monsoon style rains have been pouring all week, so today was some sweet relief. I just wanted to run through the streets yelling, "Happy Thanksgiving!" It's funny to feel like you're feeling all this internal holiday spirit and no one around you knows it's a holiday. It made me feel so much kinship with Americans around the world celebrating today in their own way, in whatever culture they find themselves.

And yes, the travesty happened: I had class today. I couldn't hold it in, and so at the end of the class as all of us began packing up, I said "Happy Thanksgiving everyone!" They all stared at me and someone said, "What's that?" I explained that it was a really huge holiday where I came from, one for which I would normally get days off from school. "What are you Americans giving thanks for?" asked my professor, chuckling a bit (I think he found the idea of the holiday a bit amusing). I gave a quick explanation of the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims and the native americans, and he said, "So essentially you're just giving thanks for America." He and my fellow students found the whole thing quite funny. They just don't know what they're missing.

The best was earlier this week, when a Scottish girl asked me, "So, Thanksgiving....that's like some sort of American Independence day, right?"

Anyway, I mostly just really, really missed my family today. I've never been apart from them on Thanksgiving. I miss my dad's deep fried turkey and my mom's savory stuffing and my grandma's pecan pie. I miss the whole crowd gathering around the table and eating until we're sick. This morning I put some cinnamon and nutmeg on my oatmeal and tried to pretend it was pumpkin pie, but somehow it just wasn't the same!

One of my roommates cooked us a little dinner tonight, and I got to try some new dishes I wouldn't normally think of as traditional, like caramelised brussel sprouts and sweet potato casserole with banana in it. My Chinese roommates got to try their first turkey, and I think they really liked it. But the big meal comes tomorrow....me and two fellow Americans are cooking an ENORMOUS Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow night for people in our church and our international student friends. We are excited to share this American tradition, but also very anxious since none of us have cooked any of this food before and now we are representing our nation with our culinary skills....oh boy. Hey, at least most of them have never celebrated Thanksgiving, so they'll have no idea what it's supposed to taste like!

Off to bed....up at 7:30 AM tomorrow to start 38 pounds of turkey thawing...

The Weekend Away

I was in Comrie Croft this past weekend on a Glasgow United Youth Fellowship (GUYF) retreat, which was essentially 70 Scottish students from the Free Church congregations in Glasgow getting away from the city for a weekend for some relaxation, worship, discussion, and a lot of fun. My flatmate and I were the only Americans in the crowd, and we loved it! Only in Scotland would you manage to get people singing around a bonfire in the pouring rain, or have teatime as a regular part of your daily schedule. We got fed in amazing style....mango chicken, lasagna (I'm told lasagna is a Free Church staple), pot roast, sticky toffee pudding, and more baked goods than you can imagine. It was so much fun to meet so many new people and spend time getting to know my Scottish friends better. I also love that GUYF includes more than just college students....there was at least one young married couple, and quite a few people who had graduated and been working for a few years. I think it's such a shame when the church segregates age groups so much, particularly when singles who are no longer in college don't really "fit in" anywhere. Considering that I will soon be one of these "graduated singles," I'm all for more age-inclusiveness!

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was waking up early Sunday morning to go on a solo hike up into the woods behind our lodge. The scenery was absolutely beautiful--the morning dew was still glistening on all the grassy pastures, sheep were grazing in the fields, sun was rising over the hills, and I discovered a waterfall flowing down into the valley. Amazing.

Here's the thing that is difficult about being the lone American: it can easily become your entire identity. Every single conversation I had with a new person over the weekend started out with (or was entirely based on) what it was like to be an American. How are you finding Glasgow? What do you eat in North Carolina? What words do you find strange here? Which American TV shows do you watch? What do you miss the most about home? Did you vote Republican or Democrat? Why don't you have a Southern accent? (I should add that Scottish people apparently LOVE the Southern accent and whenever I put one on to demonstrate they are incredibly excited and ask me why I don't speak that way all the time).

All these questions can be fun to answer....and I never run out of conversation starters/topics....but sometimes it's hard to get past them to other subjects. Even in the conversations with people here I've known a bit longer, it's just too easy for me to fall into "Well, in the States it's like this, but in Scotland, it's like that" and just talk about comparisons constantly. I am just as guilty of focusing on the contrasts as anyone else and I don't really know how to avoid it.
Here's the question I undoubtedly get the most, which always surprises me: "Why did you choose Scotland?" More often it is said like this, "Why would you come here?!" with a look of disbelief and curiosity. People just can't believe 1) that I would want to leave America, or 2) that I would do so to come to Glasgow. I try to convince people that I really do love their city and the country and I would choose it all over again if I had the chance!
After this weekend, I am increasingly tempted to start answering this question in the following way: "Well, I came to Scotland for several reasons....." and then begin counting off on my fingers, "Henry Ian Cusick, James McAvoy, Gerard Butler, Ewan McGregor, Sean Connery...I could go on....."

"I was a stranger, and you welcomed me...."

I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now, but I couldn't resist writing about my night because it was so wonderful. I made my first solo walk across Glasgow in the dark tonight. I was headed to a bible study at my church, which is about a 25 minute walk from my university. It was pouring rain, but I didn't even mind....I got to walk past all the enormous displays of Christmas lights through the city center and listened to happy Christmas music on my headphones. It was just as people were getting off of work, and I felt like I was in a scene from a movie, walking through the rain and twirling my red umbrella through a sea of bustling city dwellers, peering in all the shop windows and walking past all the cozy coffee shops and cafes where people were deep in conversation.

But the best part of my night was at my church. If there is one thing I will take away from Scotland, one lasting impression to carry with me, it will be the incredible hospitality and love of the people at Glasgow City Free Church. I have been offered lunch and a long afternoon of chatting at someone's home after every service. I am always welcomed with the most sincere and hearty delight to see me return through the doors, even after I am away for a weekend or two traveling. Tonight I had so many people ask me about my time in Paris who I'd never even told about my travel plans, and they were all genuinely interested in hearing about my experiences. Meals and fellowship seem integral to any church gathering....tonight we had a young adult bible study, followed by a huge meal of delicious lasagna, garlic bread, and cheesecake, then we congregated with the larger church body for a prayer meeting. As we were singing together tonight, I remembered how strange it felt on my first Sunday there to only be singing acapella Psalms, and now I love it. There is a deep passion and reverence and beauty in the way these people sing this simple Scottish Psalter that I rarely see accompany the drums, guitars, mics, and amps of most American worship services I've been in. Tonight was the first time I had ever been to one of these prayer meetings, and here's what I find wonderful: everyone is bowed in silence, and after one person prays out loud, the everyone in the room says "Amen." I didn't expect it the first time it happened, and the loud, echoing resonance of it struck me. It was as if after every prayer that was offered up , the body of beievers was saying "Yes, we want that too. We affirm your request and we join you in asking." It was beautiful.

Before the time of prayer, an older couple from the congregation shared their testimony, asking us to pray for their ministry to international students. They go out almost daily to the various universities in Glasgow to fellowship with students, offer help with English language, and share the gospel when an opportunity arises. They keep their home totally open to have huge groups of international students over for meals and bible studies. They also go to pray with asylum-seekers and prisoners throughout the week. As this gentle, kind woman (who was probably in her early sixties) shared their stories, I thought, "This is what I want to be when I am her age. I want to be able to look back say I have opened my home to strangers and friends, that I have fed meals and shown love to people who are lonely and far from home, that I have prayed with those who have little hope, that I have given freely of what I have, that my life has been marked by serving rather than taking." She was so inspiring to me, and I told her so after the service.

I used to think that so many detailed aspects of a worship service were really important to get church "right"....that music had to be a certain way, that the atmosphere had to set a particular tone, the decor had to get people in a certain mood, that style of preaching had to sound just right to my taste.....but the more I travel and experience so many different types of church services and worship styles, I am increasingly convinced that none of those things really matter if the love of Christ fills a group of people who gather to worship Him.

For the first time tonight, people started asking me how much time I had left rather than how long I had been here, and it made me a little sad to think how short and fleeting the next few weeks will be......but for now, I am full of thanksgiving that God has led me here, to this loving, welcoming little family of believers in Scotland.

My delightful week in France!

I got back from the airport at 2:00 AM Sunday night, so I'm still slightly less than coherent, but I'm going to attempt to describe my exhilarating, whirlwind trip! I'll try to go day by day:

Saturday night: my flight to Paris was wonderful because I sat beside Flore, a very sweet French girl who gave me advice about the city and stayed by my side for the long trek into the city from the airport. We had such a great conversation about culture and faith and travel....and she asked for this blog address, so if you are reading this, Flore, thanks for giving me a great introduction to my trip! I met my roommate (who was just there for the weekend) in Paris, and we excitedly headed off to stroll the Champs Elysee (which is not quite as romantic and sophisticated when you are strapped to a massive hiking backpack, but still fun!). We decided to set off to find the Eiffel Tower, which is lit up at night and looked quite close, but we wondered up and down a billion streets for about an hour before we finally arrived underneath it. It was surreal and thrilling to see it glittering in the skyline when my bus from the airport was coming into Paris, but walking around it was a bit of a different story.....there's mobs of people everywhere, and TONS of guys walking around with miniature glowing Eiffel Towers, shoving them in your face and trying to convince you to buy one. I discovered through the course of the week that this is quite common....every tourist attraction was surrounded by homeless people begging for money and men trying to peddle tacky souvenirs.

Sunday: This was a big day. We got up early and ate crepes with Nutella and banana for breakfast in Montmarte (I should note here that I ate crepes for breakfast every morning I was in Paris. They were to die for). We first made the climb to the Sacre Couer , a really stunning stone Basilica located at the highest point in the city. Then we attended mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, which was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I will never ever forget the moment of walking in that grand, enormous building, hearing the organ play and the bells echoing through the massive stone structure, smelling the burning incense wafting though the air as solemn procession of singers chanted a liturgy.....I can't describe the feeling, but my eyes instantly flooded with tears at the sheer beauty of it. I continued feeling awestruck through the entire mass, which was given in alternating French and Latin (it's the only time my Latin classes in high school have ever been useful). This was my first Catholic mass, and also my first time biting a communion wafer straight out of a priest's hands. There was a really funny moment when everyone was supposed to turn to their neighbor and kiss them on both cheeks (a traditional French greeting),---but I didn't know that, so people start leaning in to kiss each other and we're supposed to be saying some phrase to each other (in French) that I didn't know....I'm sure I looked a little confused!

After mass and a delicious quiche lunch, we climbed the many stairs up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe (we liked to think we were working off the crepes) and enjoyed some really amazing panoramic views of the city.

I said goodbye to my roommate and headed off to find my hosts for the next few days. I was staying with two French architecture students who I found through couchsurfing.com, which is essentially an online network of people who allow other people to stay on their couches for a few days when they travel. This sounds sketchy, but it's actually pretty safe, and I had several friends who did it when they studied abroad, so that gave me some confidence. The girls I stayed with were really nice. They made me great cups of tea and shared their nightly baguettes with me. After I arrived on Sunday night we went to an anniversary celebration light show at the Eiffel Tower, which was really exciting and fun.

Monday: I spent the morning at the Louvre, which is the most massive and exhausting museum ever. I saw so much amazing art, but after a few hours, I was pretty dead on my feet. I finally stopped to eat lunch out in the gardens behind the museum, which are also pretty lovely, except that I got mobbed by a scary gang of pigeons. That afternoon I walked around the Paris Opera house, which is the most ornately decorated building I've ever seen. A massive marble staircase, everything in sight gilded in gold, huge chandeliers lining the halls, and lavish murals on every ceiling....it was breathtaking.

Tuesday: All morning I walked around the Musee d'Orsay, which features primarily Impressionistic paintings and some Art Noveau work. These are my two favorite periods in art, so I was really excited! I actually ended up enjoying the content a lot more than that of the Louvre. I spent the rest of my day walking around various neighborhoods in Paris (I ended up with enormous blisters and some strained tendons from all the walking, but besides that it was great). I also started feeling kind of sick...I had already been eating nothing but crepes, bread, and pastries for a couple of days, and then on Tuesday I bought a baguette which I told myself was for dinner....but the danger of buying a French baguette is that it is DELICIOUS and you just nibble on it all day long. By the late afternoon, I had eaten the entire baguette, and my stomach was not very happy.

Wednesday: I packed up my backpack yet again and caught a train out to visit my childhood friend Kathryn, who is working at a chateau in St. Albain, which is about an hour north of Lyon, if you happen to know some geography in France. My three hour train ride through the countryside was so beautiful, and felt really refreshing after being in a busy, decadent city for a few days. I stayed with Kathryn in her cottage and got such a different view of France by being out in a more rural area. She and her roommate work as chefs for a guesthouse chateau, so I got fed very, very well while I was there! It was such a blessing to get to relax and enjoy their fellowship for a few days.


Thursday: Kathryn and I took a train to Dijon--yes, that's where the mustard comes from, and there is mustard everywhere in the city. It was really charming and kind of reminded me of what I thought Paris might be like before I saw it....more like a French city from a romantic movie, I suppose. I enjoyed it so much! We also went out for French pizza that night, which is totally different from what I'm used to, but SO good...mine had goat cheese, onions, mushrooms, thick chunks of bacon, and potatoes. Yummy!


Friday: We drove around the villages close to St. Albain and visited other old chateaus and ancient monasteries. We also drove past Taize, for any of you who know about the Taize prayer movement. These buildings were so old it just blew my mind. In one church we walked underneath the building to a kind of spooky, dark, chilly crypt where the man who was the first missionary to France is buried. The car ride itself was just amazingly beautiful....it reminded me of driving through pretty parts of North Carolina, except the little villages nestled in the hills look entirely different!


Saturday: I got a very early train back to Paris, and thankfully found a luggage locker so I could enjoy my day free of my heavy backpack. I found a lively fresh market, where I bought fresh bread and cheese to eat by the banks of the Seine. Moments like that, sitting by the river and eating a picnic, were times when I would suddenly remember that I was traveling alone and think how much nicer to share the experience with someone.
After lunch I got caught in a pouring deluge of rain, worse than any storm I've seen in Scotland thus far. I got absolutely drenched and ran into a cafe to escape the rain, where I stayed most of the afternoon. After a shuttle bus, several hours in the dreadful Beauvais airport, a plane ride, waiting an hour in the cold for a bus to take me back to Glasgow at midnight, and a taxi ride from the bus station, I finally arrived back home, exhausted but safe at 2:00 AM.

What a week!

a fleeting hello from the city of lights

I am typing on a French keyboard and on my Parisean host's computer, so I must be brief.

Quick observations on Paris thus far:

1) it is so, SO beautiful
2) I think crepes will be served in heaven
3) The Mona Lisa is kind of overrated
4) I wish I spoke French

au revoir! more to come....

Schnitzel, Scots, and Starbucks

I've spent this entire week frantically essay-writing, holed up in my room or in a library cubby for hours at a time, so I've been a little too stressed to write about GERMANY. I spent this last weekend in Hamburg, with my flatmate Kelsey. She had a German friend who was a former exchange student in America, who served as our very helpful guide. Some cities I think I could survive on my own: Hamburg is not one of them. Everything is in really unpronounceable German, and the metro system is the most confusing tangle of lines I've ever seen. I really noticed on this trip what a difference it makes to be with a local resident. I think that may have been one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. I hate this reoccurring feeling of being a tourist, of just casually consuming the culture for whatever I want to get out of it. Being with a German made it feel like I was somehow briefly tapping into the soul of the city, more so than if I was just wondering around looking for tourist destinations. Hamburg is the 2nd largest harbor city in Europe, so looking out at the waterfront and the massive ships everywhere was really fantastic too. Culinary highlights: eating schnitzel, authentic bratwurst, apple strudel, and delicious German butter....all German dairy products have a higher fat content than in America, thereby making them infinitely more delicious!

I discovered recently that I have acquired a few Scottish/English readers on this blog, so let me reaffirm here publicly: I love the United Kingdom! Yes, it takes a bit of adjustment, but it is wonderful. I'm not sure if I've said this yet, but I think Scottish people may be some of the friendliest on the planet. Once you get used to the biting sense of humor, people really are incredibly kind. This is particularly evident in random encounters on the street and with store clerks. Yesterday, a man absolutely made my day by calling me "bonnie lass" as he rang up my groceries. I just sort of stopped and stared for a minute, unsure how to respond....I mean, how often in your life are you called "bonnie lass"?! Ah, the joys of Scotland.

Then there was today. I've been really sick the past couple of days, and it won't stop pouring rain outside. Today was equally dreary, and I woke up incredibly stressed about figuring out my trip to Paris. I'm mostly going to be traveling alone, and I'm more anxious than I've ever been about travelling. But then I ventured out into the rainy city to run some errands, and I was cheered by some of the friendliest Scottish employees I've ever encountered. One man's kindness completely turned my day around when I was on the verge of tears.
My day was also brightened enormously by walking into Starbucks and discovering that the Red cups have returned! This, of course, means that Christmas season, with all its joy and delight, has officially arrived, along with Gingerbread Spice Lattes and Peppermint Mochas. Nothing cheers your heart like a good Christmas coffee!

As previously mentioned, I am headed out to France tomorrow, where I will be for the rest of the week. I'll be in Paris for a few days, then heading out to a more rural region of France to stay with a friend from America who is living/working in a chateau. I'm really excited, but I'm also really scared to do all of this on my own....especially considering that I don't speak French. I would really appreciate your prayers for safety and peace of mind over the next few days....thanks so much!

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