Thanksgiving

I wrote my family this email to update them on my Thanksgiving, and it occurred to me that it is a fairly thorough account of my Turkey Day going-ons. So, for your enjoyment, my email to my family!

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Dear family,

As Thanksgiving is a family holiday, I thought I would email y'all to update you on my holiday and on my life here. (I've been very bad about doing this for most of you, I know. For those of you who are inclined, check out my blog at http://furrst.blogspot.com. I update it about once a week with various anecdotes.)

After three months of being here, I can finally say that I am starting to feel confident enough to go out and about on my own without too many worries. This past weekend, for example, I traveled by myself some three hours (a bit by bike, much more by train) to visit a friend in the northern part of my prefecture for a Thanksgiving dinner. She is another WashU graduate who was very good friends with one of my suite-mates sophomore year, and lived with my freshman/sophomore year roommate for a summer. In short, she was someone of whom I knew, but with whom I never really was friends before now.

All of the Americans lucked out - Japan has a national holiday on the Friday after Thanksgiving (their version of Labor Day), so we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends, albeit a day late. Amy's Thanksgiving dinner was impressively close to one we could have had state-side, featuring a turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing (not cornbread-based, sadly, though we did have cornbread), and even pumpkin pies. There were eight of us there all together, which made for a very nice gathering. Amy, as hostess, was head chef, but her mind was occupied with cooking the stuffing, which is, as many of the Forrests know, an engrossing task. Amusingly enough, I became the secondary chef for the whole affair, most likely because I came to the party armed with the spices Del Ray [my godmother] gave me. (They were a huuuuge hit, Del! Thank you again!) This left me to make the mashed potatoes (of which Brian [my uncle] would have been immensely proud), make the salad, and assign tasks to anyone with idle hands. The whole thing went off well, despite their being too many cooks for the small kitchen, and we had a great dinner.
As a side note, Japan *did* make a few contributions to our meal - the stuffing featured shitake mushrooms, and many of us were eating our dinners with chopsticks.

Things became a little tougher for the ride home. I have had a cold for the past week, which has mostly shown itself in the form of sinus congestion. On Saturday, however, I awoke to find that I had no voice whatsoever. Most of the time, I lose my voice enough to where I can't speak *well*, but I can still speak. I was not so fortunate this time: my voice was *completely* gone. That made traveling back a little harder, though I managed it without too much trouble.

My final bit of Thanksgiving celebration involved, of course, shopping. It wasn't exactly a Black Friday experience, though the nearby mall was very crowded. I bought a few new clothing items from Honey's, which reminds me quite a bit of the clothing store I worked in a few summers ago. It's trendy and fairly inexpensive, both of which suit me. My fashion style here has gone nuts, as I can wear just about anything and have it praised as an interesting, "American" style. Japanese styles, also, are a bit crazy, as having matching colors doesn't seem to be a requirement of fashion here. As far as fitting goes, I'm considered a large here (I've gotten over the "...I'm a WHAT?!" reaction by now), and most pants are too short for me, but I'm fine for shirts, skirts, and jackets. The current fashion here features very high lines and often no waist-distinction, which reminds me every time of Audrey Hepburn-esque styles. (There is a jacket here that I want desperately, not because it is something I can actually wear, but because I'm positive I've seen it in a Hepburn movie.) I'm amused to find that I'm a little too busty for some of these fashions, which has never happened to me in my life. In any case, I still find things that are wonderfully flattering, and I'm really enjoying being able to commit some of my expendable funds on my wardrobe.

As a random aside, I have started crocheting an afghan. It gets dark here at 4:15 or 4:30, and, as I only have a bike for transportation, I have a lot of sitting-at-home-bored time. I'm making it from red-and-black granny squares, to match my decor, and I can't help but think of Grandmother (Anne Forrest) when I do so, especially because I finally realized that she used this same stitching technique for piecing together the Pill (a blanket from Granddad's old socks for his stump*). As Thanksgiving is a holiday that, for the Forrests, evokes many a memory of Grandmother, I can't help but feel that this reminder of her is very timely. I'll be sure to take pictures of the blanket when I'm finished, though that might be some time next winter. :P

Now, I fear, I must leave off this email and do some real work. Today is the first day of final exams, so I have the whole day to myself. I'm doing my best to be productive, though my cold isn't helping my concentration very much. Lots of love to everyone, and I hope you're
doing well!

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* My grandfather has a false leg, having lost his right leg below the knee in the second World War. He used to have to wear heavy, cotton socks on it to protect it from this false leg, but when he "upgraded" his leg and no longer needed the socks, my grandmother made them into the best blanket in the world. We call it "The Pill" because its heavy weight and wonderful warmth are guaranteed to put you to sleep, just like a sleeping pill.