A New York Thanksgiving

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home. It was a good one, even if I didn’t get to hang out with my family.

I got off work early on Tuesday afternoon, and was VERY excited to start my break. I spent the first day of my break volunteering, which you can read more about in my post NAME OF POST.

Thursday was a lazy turkey day :) I think I stayed in my PJs until 1:00. Hurray! Leah made Pringle casserole (green bean casserole with Pringles instead of Frenchies because all the stores were out...), and around 2:00 she and I left for Brooklyn.

We met up with HaQuyen, a former VSer who still lives in the city. She had invited us, some friends from church, some friends from a different church, and her parents. Her family is Vietnamese, so there was a blend of Vietnamese and English buzzing throughout the apartment. Not to mention delicious Vietnamese spring rolls paired with an All-American Thanksgiving turkey. I love the diversity of this city!

In typical Thanksgiving fashion, Leah and I showed up an hour late. We didn’t eat for another 90 minutes because the turkey always takes longer than you expect. Post dinner, we fought off inevitable food induced coma by walking around HaQuyen’s neighborhood. It is so quaint! There are lots of brownstone buildings, a park where children were burning off energy while parents watched, and trees. It was lovely.

We had to make a pitstop at a Chinese bodega (bodega is Spanish for store, and New Yorkers use it to refer to corner stores...sort of like gas stations.) for ice. I suppose the Chinese are some of the few not observing the American holiday!

Through some rousing rounds of Mafia, Leah and I got to know her friends there. They all attend Trinity Grace Community Church which is a non-denominational church. It sounds like they’ve been friends for a couple years. I was excited to meet some new cool people who don’t live at Menno House! I love my housemates, but I also love knowing I have the potential for other friend groups.

This girl did not spend Black Friday shopping. I heard rumors folks were lined up outside of Bestbuy on Monday already gearing up for Black Friday. That was one scene I did not want any part of. Instead, Leah and I went to the Russian and Turkish baths (http://www.russianturkishbaths.com/enter.html). We had a Groupon to save $20 on entrance.

It was an experience. There were five saunas, an ice-cold pool, and a bunch of really hairy men covered in tattoos. Interesting. Despite the bowling alley smell and lack of eye-candy, Leah and I had quite a relaxing time. It was wonderful to just sit and relax. I definitely was not as intense as some men who would sit for hours in the 120 degree room, and when they got too hot, would dump buckets of ice water on themselves. After a few hours, they would go into the ice pool, literally like 40 degrees, and submerge themselves. They would stay there for five minutes. Repeat. No thank you.

Sunday was spent at Riverdale Presbyterian Church to see my housemate Jovon preach. He is studying theology at Union Theological Seminary, and is Director of Youth Ministries at RPC. It was a great time. The church was very welcoming, and warm.

Now I’m getting back into the swing of things. We have five schools we are serving this weekend. It’ll be busy!