The Thanksgiving Party

     Well, that was fun. I just got back from the Big City English Club Thanksgiving party. I mentioned it yesterday but here's the real post about it. I'm still processing all that happened so this may take me a while to write out.
     To start off, here are the highlights: I cooked 8 kilos of meat on the grill, we had about twenty-five students from the club plus staff there, I banged on a bongo drum and made some noise, and my coat smells like a cooking fire. Got that? Good. Here are the details.

     The Pervises moved to a new house not too long ago. It's actually right across the street from their old place. But it's about twice the size. That means they are better able to host big groups. David had wanted to do a big party like this since they moved in. For a first time, I think it went really well.
     I got there about an hour and a half early for the party and thirty minutes later than I had planned. David asked that I be there early to help setup. I started off with making sandwiches and graduated to cooking shashleek on the grill. It's a seasoned/marinated pork that usually gets cooked on a skewer like shishkabobs. But we just put it right on the rack and grilled it like burgers or chicken. David started off with cooking it but switched out with me once people started showing up. He went inside to play host and talk to everyone.
     I discovered that I really miss cooking over a fire. I might need to get a grill once the weather gets warmer. For now, I'll just bury my nose in my coat and remember the smell. David uses real charcoal. As in, it is sticks and logs that were made into charcoal, not the pressed briquettes that we have in the States. And yes, that is the grill. It was really dark outside so I couldn't get a good picture. But that is about half a bucket's worth of meat. It comes per-marinated in a sealed bucket. All you need to do is grill it.
     I basically finished off the grilling outside while people were arriving and gathering inside. By the time I was done, the living room was packed with people. I came in right as they were finishing up dinner. Not to worry though, there was still plenty of food. I was able to have seconds of the excellent food.
     Jon Eide then led the group in a game of People-Bingo. If you haven't heard of it, think of a regular Bingo card. Instead of numbers, a description or action is in each box. Some of the boxes said things like "has completely solved a Rubik's cube" or "has been to Romania" or "has eaten a snail." I was able to write my name under "can cook an omelet" and "has taught a class" for several peoples' cards. The group had to go around the room and find a person who had done that thing.

      That kept people occupied for about half and hour. The winners got to have dessert early. Afterwards, Jesse Armstrong gave a talk about the founding of Thanksgiving and where our thanks should be directed. He had several of the students read paragraphs from President Lincoln's address about the institution of the holiday. It was a really good talk that ended by focusing on why he's here helping with English club.


     Next up was a group photo. This should give you an idea of how many people were there. I think about ten people who weren't in it.

     After that, everyone hit the dessert table. This was the first time this year I've had pumpkin pie. It was great. They even had whipped cream for the topping. While everyone was devouring their dessert, David's son Josiah and his friend Nathan played music for everyone.  Once they were done, David joined them and led the group in a bunch of songs that we normally sing at English club. He handed me a little bongo drum and I tried to keep the beat. But sitting where I was, between two guitar amps and a huge crowd of people, I could barely hear my own thoughts, let alone the small drum. Fortunately (or strangely as I thought), someone came up to me afterwards and asked if I had my own drum set! He said that it sounded good and must have assumed that I practiced regularly. I'll drum on my legs or a table when no one is around but I don't practice.

     From there, we just hung out and relaxed. Well, I tried to. I think I felt a little restless and couldn't sit for very long. I wound up walking around a talking with people in between picking up trash or papers.
     Eventually, I slipped out with a crowed headed for the closest marshrutka stop around 22:00. It took a while to show up and I had a good conversation with one of the members of Big City.
     Now I'm sitting in my apartment typing this out. I got back about thirty minutes ago and finally got to relax. I should go to bed early tonight but my mind probably won't let me sleep until much later. Living here in the city with the schedule I have has greatly changed my normal sleep patterns. I usually go to bed after midnight and get up around 9AM. I don't like it but that's city life. Not having a normal job allowed the change. That's also probably going to be the biggest thing I will need to get used to when I come back to the states.
      Alright, time for me to sign off and go rest. Have a good remainder of the weekend and I'll hopefully have a new update coming soon.