Thanksgiving Meal

During this thanksgiving, I went to San Francisco, California by myself, while all my friends went to NYC and Boston, due to my parents insisting that I spend my last high-school thanksgiving studying at a Korean study camp instead of enjoying my time. I went there to get help in writing my apps, but was reluctant to go because I had to go alone and I did not know anyone there. When I got there, I shared a small hotel room with three other Korean roommates, and I had to personally share a small double bed with a Korean student who rowed, and was therefore very bulky. After several days of sleeping in a little corner of the bed, the Application Writing helping camp took us out to dinner for Thanksgiving. We went to a family of Stanford Alumni who were friends with our teacher, and promised a “delicious” Thanksgiving meal for us. Expecting a huge turkey fest, the thirty of us went to the house, staying hungry and foolish.

The walk to the house was very interesting. I expected the weather to be warm and cozy, being in California, but it was surprisingly bitter cold. The only way I managed to stay warm throughout the brutal twenty minute walk was from the pint of free hot chocolate, provided by the hotel, I drank prior to leaving the hotel. I was bloated from drinking so much hot chocolate, but the thought of a big meal with a huge turkey, potatoes, beans, and desert made me hungry.

When we arrived at the family’s house, the three Stanford Alumni greeted us with warm smiles. The house was very nice and cozy, and they told us we were free to play with anything in their house, including the air hockey table, the basket ball hoops, and the various video games. As the thirty of us waited in the living room while the food was getting ready, the family brought out a peculiar colored lemonade for us to drink; it was not the traditional yellow lemonade, but had a mysterious pink and brown pigment to it. It was very sweet, but had a lingering bitter taste to it, probably due to the excessive hot chocolate I drank beforehand. After we prayed for all the things in life and the delicious food we were about to eat, they invited us into the kitchen.

Surprisingly, the family had prepared a Korean feast for us, respecting the culture of Korea, and having piles of Korean BBQ, BBQ Short Ribs, Pork BBQ, Japchay (Korean noodles) and various other side dishes. Although I was rather disappointed that I couldn’t delve into a big turkey, the Korean food was a nice reminder of home, especially because I did not have a chance to eat Korean food for the time in the States, since the only way for us to eat Korean food at Kent was to travel out to New York. The hosts told us that it was important for ladies to go first, and being naïve gentlemen, we let them. Disappointingly, the girls ate a lot more than we thought and took more than half of the six-pound heap of BBQ meat they had prepared from us. The boys had to share the rest of the scraps of meat the girls had left for us, and our plates mainly contained vegetables, white rice, and noodles, rather than the delicious main dishes, which was alright because we were gentlemen.

Despite of not being able to eat an American Thanksgiving dinner, I was satisfied that I could give thanks to my culture with a Korean Thanksgiving meal.