Thanksgiving a view from a Brit

Thanksgiving what to say… 

a time where you eat marshmallows on top of your potatoes, where you make crafts of the meat that you are going to eat before you even eat it, a day in which you think about what you are thankful for and the day after is a day in which you supposedly shop till you drop buying things on the cheap, a time where it is evidently acceptable to belch, fart and make other noises unknown to me up until now and a time for getting together with great friends and seeing everyone in the spirit of the holiday.

Making felt Turkeys with one of my students

I should clarify my mouth is not actually touching the Turkey

All in all I LOVE thanksgiving! 

All the more for celebrating it in Tanzania of course. So even though it is not an official English holiday I still woke up bright and early, unable to sleep from the excitement of a holiday and got dressed in my comfy thanksgiving clothes (stretchy trousers (oh my goodness I know your not meant to put a bracket within a bracket but I was just about to type pants in stead of trousers, the Americans are turning me) as I knew I would be eating a lot) and waited for everyone to wake up ready for our planned brunch.

Gluten free corn bread (tastes better than looks honest, and a lovely card from Melissa)

Unfortunately there is no Macy’s thanksgiving parade in Tanzania, so we settled for getting cosy (well as cosy as you can in 30+degree heat) in front of the film Miracle on 34^th street seen as it has the parade in it. We had a full day of preparing our dishes for out thanksgiving feast later on in the day. Well I say we but really I was a little too engrossed in the film but I was there with a helping hand when bowls needed licking or fudge needed test tasting.

my lovely housemates engrossed in the film

Other than brunch and my occasional nibbling I had saved myself for my feast, you only have your first thanksgiving once so I wanted it to go down with a bang aka bloated stomach. When I arrived at our host’s house I was not disappointed, there was food coming from every direction and I got a glimpse of the 100 US dollar Turkey before it got carved up. (yes I did say 100 dollars no idea why it was so expensive, when there’s food about don’t ask questions as I am too busy scoffing my face) Oh boy was it all delicious. 

Blooming expensive Turkey

 After my 4^th plateful I decided to pace myself to make room for pudding, (don’t want to be greedy or anything :p) Deserts are harder to find gluten free but my trusty housemates had cooked up delicious fudge and chocolate toffee so I was more than happy and satisfied. After a Christmas sing along and a cuppa thanksgiving was finally coming to a close.

Stuffing my face while I can

Opps I forgot to mention the best bit, just like they do in the movies, before we ate, we all went around the room and said what we were thankful for. It was so exciting. What was I thankful for? Well that would be telling, it might not be worth being thankful for if I tell. (Not sure if that’s exactly how it works but hey)