While it was nearly a week ago, I'm still dwelling on my Thanksgiving festivities. A summary:
Case, Mario, and I, realizing that we're the only family we've got in this city, decided that having a proper Thanksgiving celebration was a definite must. The plans were started just after we met, in September or October, but they fell to the wayside of other exciting events. The weekend before, we finally settled on Beijing Duck as our Thanksgiving meal.
I'd never experienced the celebrated dish, but I'd only heard good things. We decided that since turkey was probably of limited supply and extremely expensive that we would settle for another bird. Not only was this my first time having Beijing Duck, but, as a loyal participant of the Duck Stamp contest, I'd never even eaten regular duck. My dietary restrictions long gone, I was up for the interesting new addition to my gastronomic repetoire.
As it turns out, Case decided to be a veritable hotel this month with four or five different sets of Couch Surfers making his home theirs. And he invited nearly all of them to dine with us. So, three of Case's CS'ers (American, British, Belgian), me (American), Case (American), Mario (American), my good friend Kim (Chinese), Mario's Chinese tutor (Chinese), another friend Jarid (Australian), and Jarid's CS'er Tod (British), made a multi-lingual, multi-national, group to celebrate the beloved American tradition with Chinese food. I'm sure there are pictures somewhere in the world of facebook, but I have yet to be tagged ;)
The adventure began with us all meeting at the wrong subway stop. I was the last to arrive. Once I was there, we attempted to ask a local where the restaurant was. We were on the complete opposite side of the city. All 10 of us hopped back on the subway to try to find the place. Luckily, Kim was very inquisitive (I find this is a trait of Chinese in general), and she asked if we were going the right was about every 50 feet. Turning down alleyways, following pictures of ducks, asking everyone we saw (who immediately pointed the way, assuming Kim was our tour guide), we finally found the hidden away, yet apparently famous Li Qin Peking Duck Restaurant.
We had a private room because our party was so big. We ordered three ducks. We munched and munched. I wasn't nearly as full as I am on proper Thanksgivings (we only had one opportunity to eat, after all), but I was pleasantly stuffed after the whole ordeal was complete.
Afterward, all 10 of us sat around talking about everything, but mostly American politics. Everyone in the world hates America, by the way, but I guess most of us already knew that. In addition, most (including myself) can't understand the lack of socialized health care, the electoral system, or George Bush. It was wildly entertaining.
The night ended with everyone rushing to catch the subway before it closed. We had sat talking and munching for about three and a half hours, and the subways were on the verge of leaving our cold asses to freeze in Beijing's streets. Luckily we caught it in time to take the traditional nap (or go to bed in a warm environment). The night was wonderful. Even though it was weird to not be around real family on such a holiday, I'm utterly thankful for the wonderful friends that I've made here.
And we toasted to Couch Surfing :)
