Thanksgiving

The crew of Canadians (plus one adopted Malaysian and a few adopted Americans who were hungry for turkey) had a feast at the Paradise Hotel on Sunday evening. All totalled, 64 of us came together for the fun and the food. Annie's grade 7 math teacher covered our dorm for us while we feasted.

As you can see from the picture, it was hard to know if we were celebrating Thanksgiving or Canada Day. Lots of people wore red and white or their favourite Canadian hockey team jersey. The walls were covered in Canadian flags and the hotel had decorated in white tableclothes with red napkins for us (red tablecloths with white napkins would signify Chinese New Year).

Last year, when they cut into the turkey it was not fulled cooked. This year, however, a Canadian chef who is on the island was invited to work alongside the hotel chef and viola! The turkey was awesome as was the gravy, sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. No stuffing, however, but we all lived without it. The pumpkin pie was quite different - pumpkins here are far more squashlike than back home. But the apple crumble with ice cream was to die for.

We all gathered on the steps of the staircase and Kerry, the band teacher from Portage, MB, took several pictures. If I can get a hold of one, I'll post it later. When we were back in the banquet room chatting, one of the fellows from Edmonton draped the Canadian flag table cloth around Tim. I found it absolutely hysterical considering he's American through and through though he carries a Canadian passport!!

Next month, the whole staff and school celebrate American Thanksgiving, which happens to be on Annie's 13th birthday this year!! Yeah - more turkey :)