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...............................