This year, I'm thankful for.... two Thanksgiving dinners.

True story. I've gone so many years in different countries never celebrating Thanksgiving, and this year in England, I get it twice. No complaints, especially since my little Bellinghamster friend Miss Holly Davis Ilchmann came all the way from Dresden, Germany to cook with me. (And stay the week, for which I give her huge props, considering I was working on a final essay the majority of the days and nights..)

We also had a fun day in Manchester with Holly's hubby Lars, who was an excellent tour guide considering he doesn't like England much.

Hopefully the plethora of pictures makes up for the sorry blogging job lately...

Definitely the most old sewing machines I've ever seen in one place.

An large old library on Lars' list of "10 Things You Must See in Manchester".

Lars scoping out the Christmas markets, which I'm pretty sure pale in comparison to Deutschland's.

The thing about all these great big old buildings is that you can never fit them into one photo...

(Manchester Town Hall)

Yes, Manchester has a China Town.

It has 3 Chinese restaurants, none of which we felt

particularly comfortable eating at..

The Ilchmanns, getting carried away with the interactive maps at the tourist centre..

Modern meets historical. Lars was ready to move here. 

                                                           At the pub where we ate lunch.
                         I've since decided I want this to be what people say about me when I'm gone.

  Holly, imitating how Lars feels about drinking cider. 

                                        

The pub we ate in was right next to some ancient Roman ruins,

so we really shouldn't have been that surprised to look out the window

and see a Roman guard taking kids on a field trip..

Holly and I outside Manchester Cathedral.

A plaque on the wall inside the cathedral.

Seriously??? 

Holly finally found some gloves big enough for her enormously oversized hands.

(They were hats.)

Homemaker Holly, doing what she does best!

This was AFTER we took the big pile of empty tin cans out of the picture..

My attempt at Sweet Potato Surprise.

If you think it looks slightly pink, it's because it is.

Turns out English people don't like to be exclusive with their

marshmallow colours, so you have to buy pink ones right along with the white..

 The finished product: garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole,

sweet potato surprise, veggie stuffing, and a pumpkin pie!

My flatmate Mike joined us, and said afterwards his mouth was very confused about having sweet potatoes with marshmallows (they're always savoury here) and pumpkin turned into a pie.
But he managed to choke it down. And we managed to stretch the leftovers out for 3 whole dinners!

Back to ceaseless essay writing. Quite possibly the biggest motivational factor I've ever had: a particular boy from across the pond landing in Manchester in a mere 12 days...............................

Tofurkey Day.

So, as we all know, next week is Thanksgiving. A couple Americans here started talking about doing a big dinner together this weekend, which turned into renting out a renovated barn for the event, a plethora of potluck dishes, and over 100 people showing up. I'm pretty sure Americans were far outnumbered by Europeans, who came along for the 'cultural experience', which seemed a little funny/ironic. Most didn't know much about the reason for the holiday, and it was interesting to try and explain. 

                My English friend Liz identifying the uniquely American dishes, namely, green bean casserole.

          One table was 'omniverous', another was veggie, and the last, vegan, all with very impressive spreads.

Heart warming.

It was the first Thanksgiving I've ever had parsnips involved in my dinner.. that was interesting. 

I meant to take a picture of the dessert table, which I found amusing as it included at least 9 pumpkin pies.... and a plate of donuts. 

It was a wonderful much-needed break from a very long week of work. Projects happening simultaneously now involve 2 final essays, 2 research project proposals, 1 book review, a bajillion articles to read, and deciding on our placements for next summer. This will determine where we go, what sort of project we're working on for 2 months, which classmates we're going with, and ultimately, what we're writing our entire dissertation on.. kind of a big decision. That we have to make in the next few days, even though it's still 7 months away. 

Something that's not 7 months away is Christmas, which I am getting so excited for, because it means HOME for 11 glorious days. Did I mention meeting a girl in my small group here who just got back from a YWAM trip and spent the last 2 months living in Bellingham??? Turns out we know a bunch of the same people and both love Mallard's ice cream. Such a small world.

Happy Sunday, love to you all.

Weekend Du Fun.

On Thursday, Ina arrived. Friday, our friend Stuart came up from Crewe. Saturday was Guy Fawkes Day, or "Bonfire Night", as it's more well known. As Ina and I learned at the refugee club last week, Guy Fawkes was some guy who tried to blow up parliment 400 years ago, but he didn't, so Brits have Bonfire Night to celebrate it. The only tie-in seems to be that the bonfires sometimes involve burning a Guy Fawkes effigy, which (personally) seems a bit morbid. It's also a little weird that this day is such a big deal here, since the English seem to feel quite similarly about their government as Americans feel about ours right now, so celebrating that a guy got nixed trying to abolish the government seems a little backwards. But whatever! As long as we can have a good bonfire! And set off so many fireworks, it feels like we're living in a war zone for 5 days straight!

German beer and Swedish cider at Bungalows & Bears Pub.

Ina can't believe we actually get to ride a DOUBLE DECKER BUS to the city.

Stu is more concerned with the Finnish chocolate Ina brought him.

Outside the Cathedral, where Occupy Sheffield is taking place.

Bonfire Night! At friends Liz and Rosie's, around the corner from me.

Lighting Chinese Lanterns.

Spinning fireworks.

Ina cooking up our last supper.

We ate dessert first, for obvious reasons.

(That's a Carmelized Almond Banana Split.)

Such a good weekend. Now back to the daunting reality of research proposals, dissertation outlines, placement decisions, policy briefings, and research paper analysis. Blaaaah.

Love to you all!