It really was a success. After all the freak outs about where to cook things and no one had purchased the turkey and all the drama about "I'm not going, no I'll go, no maybe I won't, no I'll come," it was great. I had so much fun I think because I kept myself busy. I went earlier in the day on Thursday to Bryan's to help with Claire, Matt & Zach set up and prepare things. I peeled carrots and rutabaga and washed dishes mainly, and listened to Bryan and Matt rehearse their little "entertainment" for the dinner.
I then went off to film class -- oh, how weird it is having class on actual Thanksgiving day -- which our professor was nice enough to start 40 minutes earlier than usual so we could get to the dinner on time.... except we watched Брат 2 (Brother 2) for our class on sequels and blockbuster films, and that is one hell of a long movie. It's also pretty bad, especially in comparison the original Брат (Brother) which is amazing. We didn't even take our break during our class, in hopes we would get out even earlier -- everyone was so antsy to get out of there and to the party, especially as the smells were killing us.... Laura had a big container of mashed potatoes on the desk next to her books, on the table behind us Danielle had a basket full of stuffing, Lauren had a bag of salad and Amy had a huge box of apple pie she made that must have weighed five pounds. Class went on and on and on -- it actually almost went to the normal time our class ends, 20 minutes over when we were supposed to get out, and our professor finally noticed how antsy we all were and said, "Ok, run!" And off we went.
It was sort of a production getting all of us and all this food to Bryan's via the metro. But we got there, somehow, to find Emily and Bryan trying to fix an issue with the turnips, and Emma desperately trying to whip some cream that just did not want to become fluffy. Claire and Pinski and the Katies were there already too, putting together deviled eggs and setting up the table. Claire had arranged my place cards and napkins just as I would have all around the table, though the purple asters I bought for the centerpiece had to get moved to the sideboard because there was just not enough room on the table because we had that much food.
In past years people apparently promise a lot more than they actually end up bringing, but this year everyone stuck to what they said they'd bring. Twenty out of the twenty five students on the program showed up, along with our three Russian tutors, a couple of guests from the dorms or classes, and former program participants such as Abman, Vanessa and Will. And everyone brought stuff. It was insane. When you think about it, telling everyone to bring one dish big enough to feed thirty people means that everyone has to eat the equivilent of one whole dish.... it was a sort of motley collection of foods as everyone has their own ideas about what is traditional Thanksgiving food as every family does it differently (I did not bring any ravioli and sauce, alas), but it was also kind of nice in a way.... you know, more pilgrim-y.... everyone bring their own idea of it... okay, this is getting to sappy. Anyway, amongst some of the foods that were represented (and the people who made them): corn bread & real bread (Zach), mashed pumpkin (Bryan), butternut squash (Matt), salad (Lauren), mashed potatoes (Laura T), peas & carrots (Bryan), green beans (Eric), deviled eggs (Katy), applesauce (Katy & someone else I forget), the most amazing corn pudding in the world (Ilana), less delicious canned corn (Bryan), one turkey and two chickens (Laura H), cranberry sauce (Bryan), biscuits (Claire), turnips & rutabaga that went kind of badly (Bryan & Emily), stuffing (Danielle), vegetarian stuffing (Bryan).... and that was just the stuff that made it to my end of the hugely long table.
I could only find fairly small-ish plastic plates for us to eat off of, so it was one of those decieving meals where you feel as if you are not eating that much because you're eating only a small plateful.... but then Emma keeps throwing more corn pudding onto your dish and you keep going and going and going until everyone was vaguely ill. At this point Ilana and Danya started opening and pouring out the bottles of Sovietskoe Champagne that people brought, and Bryan and Matt put on their little show which consisted of their renditions of three songs on the guitar: the Muppet Babies themesong (not really sure how that one came about, started as a joke and became a reality, I even had a small role as the mysterious nanny whose face you never see), Vlad and Boris's Song for Sarah Palin (there was even a telescope made from the thing that the wrapping paper comes on), and, finally, with Zach's help, a version of "Victoria" by the Kinks, re-written in Russian about Smolny, RSL and our three tutors. Don't worry, this was all recorded by multiple cameras and will probably be on the internet in the near future.
That gave us enough time to digest for dessert... Emily hit it on the head when she described the mindset of everyone as "no one every makes pies, so I'll make a pie." We had no less than ten pies at this event. There was something like six apple pies, two pumpkin pies and two Jackon pies (this kind of pie that Ilana made that is basically a chocolate chip and nut cookie in pie form)... there was fruit salad too, though no whipped cream (Emma tried her hardest but to no success), and everyone ate so damn much that one girl (who will remain nameless) actually ate herself sick and almost vomitted on the metro and nearly had to miss class on Friday because of it. Ah, yes, that's the spirit of Thanksgiving....
After that the night wound down and some people went home earlier than others and some of us helped clean up a bit and Bryan's neighbors weren't even really upset about the noise..... well, not that upset.... I got home late feeling content, full, and happy. It was a good feeling. And the next day the festivities continued in a way with a group of us (Laura T, Liza, Eric, Ilana and I) went back to help Bryan clean up the disaster zone that was his apartment and kitchen and eat some of the leftovers. As my first Thanksgiving without my family, I would say it definitely was better than expected. Oh, and not to fear, I took something like 200+ pictures I have to sort through. Here's a preview though, so you can get an idea of the atmosphere:
And so that was my Thanksgiving. This weekend afterwards just involved recovering from it, pretty much. A lot of sleeping. A lot of movie-watching. General recovery. It was really nice though. Really nice. It could have been a disaster, but it was actually great. I can't wait to look through all my photos and relive the night.
1 comment:
omg i wish you had made ravioli!
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