Turkeyless Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving I went to Texas with my boyfriend. Because of work I had to leave on Wednesday and come back on Friday, so we didn't get to travel together. He left on Monday so that he could fly out to Kansas and drive with his sister to Texas. Even though I was traveling alone it wasn't too bad. A blizzard warning went out on Tuesday for Utah and was supposedly going to be a really bad one. Campus was closed down at 3:00pm in anticipation for how bad it was going to be. I was worrying because my flight was tomorrow and I didn't want it to be canceled or delayed.

Three o'clock came and went and there was no blizzard. It didn't even snow until 7:00pm. It was really windy and snowy for about an hour, but after that everything was fine. Wednesday was really cold but the road condition was great and it was clear and sunny. I got to the airport okay and my flight left and arrived to Dallas on time. Shinsuke's brother, his wife Nima, and Shinsuke came and picked me up at the airport. On the way to their apartment we almost got in a car accident. The guy in front of us suddenly pulled into the other lane and there was another car in front of us that had stopped because there was a fire truck cutting across the lane.

Once we made it to the apartment we sat down for dinner. Shinsuke's brother, Yutaro, had prepared yakiniku. It was so delicious! While eating dinner we talked to Shinsuke's mom over MSN video chat. Shinsuke's sister Ai introduced her dog Mario to Shinsuke's mom's dog Calcium. Though, the dogs had no idea what was going on. After dinner Ai, Nima, and I sat down and worked on a 500 piece puzzle. Shinsuke and Yutaro worked on it a little, but not for very long. Ai and I ended up finishing the puzzle at 2:00am before we went to bed. I slept in the kids room with Ai's children Anna, Ray, and Lilia.

I was sleeping well until the fire alarm woke me, and everybody else, up at 6:00am. At first we thought it was just our apartment. I took Lilia, the 3-year-old, outside with everyone else. We found out shortly that the fire alarm for the entire complex was going off. We were all not sure what caused the alarm to go off, but after it turned off we went back inside and immediately went to bed again. Lilia was attached to me after that and decided she wanted to sleep in the bed with me.

We all slept in Thanksgiving morning. But after we got up Shinsuke, Ai, and I ate breakfast together and then had a spiritual thought with the kids. When Yutaro got up he put on the movie The Diary of Anne Frank. I watched a little bit of it, but then Lilia decided she wanted me to play with her. After the movie was over and I was able to get away from Lilia Shinsuke and I worked on making gyoza, or pot stickers, while the kids watched The Princess and the Frog. Anna and her mom fixed eggs in a basket, or eggs in toast as I know it, for lunch. After that, Yutaro took Shinsuke and I to see the spot where Kennedy was assassinated.

There was a lady there who asked us for some money so she could make it home for Thanksgiving with her family. She said she had her kids in the car and a turkey. Shinsuke gave her $10 despite his doubts whether the story was true or not. When we walked past her car we saw that there was only an empty car seat in the back.

We walked around downtown Dallas for awhile and took a few pictures. It was a little weird because it was mostly deserted and there were a bunch of black birds flying around. But it was fun. After a little while we went back to get ready for dinner. Shinsuke went with Anna and Ray to collect leaves while I called my family. When he got back we made portraits of everyone with the leaves that they had collected. After we were finished making the pictures and done cleaning up it was time for dinner.

It was far from any Thanksgiving dinner I ever had but extremely delicious. We had gyoza, tempura, inari sushi, shrimp sushi, and sashimi (salmon, tuna, and octopus). For dessert we had homemade ice cream cake to celebrate Nima's birthday. We then watched Race to Witch Mountain. After that Shinsuke and I took Mario on a walk. It was a little cold, but it was nice getting to spend a little time alone together. And just in case you were wondering; no, we didn't kiss.

The kids were still up when we got back so we helped put them to bed. Lilia didn't easily go to sleep, so I got ready for bed so that she could fall asleep with me. The next day we didn't do much. After I finished packing we went to a nearby lake and took some pictures with everyone. After that it was time for me to catch my plane. Yutaro made me a lunch to take on the plane and Nima gave me a scarf as a gift (it's so pretty!) and then Shinsuke took me as far as security. I know I will see him soon, but I didn't want to say goodbye. I was sad to say goodbye to everyone else at well.

I really liked everyone and I felt comfortable around them. I hope I get a chance to see them again!