Thanksgiving

November 28, 2010

On Thanksgiving Day I didn’t even think about it being Thanksgiving until late at night.  I woke up early so I could shower, pack up, and move over to the house from the hotel room.  I wasn’t sure what to do after that.  I felt at a loss.  Chris had pointed out a mountain bike in the garage that I could use.  Caroline was asleep and I didn’t want to wait around for her to wake up.  I didn’t want to seem like a weak, little person.  So I grabbed the bike and rode to town.  I got my bus ride from Fox Glacier to Nelson arranged and then I went to ride the bike down to Lake Matheson.

The bike kind of needed some air in the tires, but I was too nervous to stop by the gas station and get air.  So I rode this bike 6 km to the lake.  I felt really ridiculous but I didn’t want to walk all the way there and then walk around the lake too.

When I got to the lake there were two buildings.  One has a gift shop in it and the other has a beautiful cafe with a large deck.  They aren’t really on the lake just on the prairie.  I walked out to the lake and around it.  The lake isn’t very large and I would hardly call it a lake.  The thing is that at certain times of the day you can see the mountains perfectly reflected onto the lake.  It was a nice walk and very hot.  I hadn’t expected it to be so warm.  I wore a long sleeved shirt and I just broiled so I took it really slow walking back to the cafe.

I ordered some lunch at the cafe and then also had a coffee and a gluten-free brownie.  Wow! It was delicious.  There are a lot of gluten-free options here in New Zealand.  I saw several gluten-free stores in Auckland, but I had supposed that was just a city thing.  But even out here in Fox there are gluten-free options.

As I was finishing off my dessert and coffee, a couple ladies came and sat at the table next to me.  I pretty soon realized that one of them was Caroline from work.  I went over and she introduced me to her friend Kaylyn.  We just sat and talked for a while.  I really enjoyed their company because I had had no idea what I was going to do with my afternoon.

I rode my bike back to town and got the courage to put air in the tires.  I didn’t know what I was doing so I hope it worked out.  It looked like the tires fattened up, but I really don’t know!

Back at the house, I met up with Caroline again and I was introduced to the other housemates.  I met Jessica.  She is from Taiwan and is also on a working holiday.  She works in housekeeping.  She is fun and is known for making crazy concoctions with her food.  I also met Jason.  He is a Kiwi.  He works mostly in the kitchen at the hotel.  He’s a lot of fun.  He made us tea and Caroline, him, and I all chatted over tea.

I learned a lot from all of them about living in Fox.  They really made me feel a lot better about the whole thing.  We decided that after Jason came back from work that we would go to Cafe Neve for Thirsty Thursdays.  Until then I just sat at the kitchen table and talked with either Caroline or Jessica.  We munched on some leftover food from the restaurant for dinner.  There was even pumpkin pie because they had cooked a Thanksgiving meal for some American guests.

On Friday I woke up and quickly got ready and caught the bus.  I got the front seat so the trip was definitely fine.  I had no car sickness at all.  I did have a bit of a headache but it wasn’t that bad. The trip was beautiful!  My favorite part was the Tasman Sea and the Buller River.  Both are magnificent!  I only fell asleep during one section right after we left Greymouth.  I wanted to stay awake to see all the scenery.

The driver stopped at the pancake rocks at Punakaiki.  I thought that was great because I had been kicking myself for not going to see those while I was in Greymouth.  There isn’t that much to see, but I was still super thankful to get the chance to see them.  Basically they are rocks that look like stacks of pancakes.

When I got to Nelson, I texted Sophie, Penny’s daughter, and she walked over from her church to get me.  We went back to her church and I dropped my stuff there while they had their youth service.  I went next door to an Italian place.  I ordered some pasta, but it wasn’t very good.  And there wasn’t much pasta either.  Either American portions are just oversized or this place makes small dishes!  I tend to think it is the former, but I don’t want to admit it.  I want a lot of pasta!

I went back to the church just as they were all ready to go out and play the “laying down game”.  I’d never heard of this game but apparently it is an universal game.  The gist of it is that you have to lie face down on the ground (or anything really) and put your arms by your side and flex your feet.  This way it looks like you are standing up but on the ground.  I went with one of the groups and they tried to find as many random places to lie down.  This was my introduction to Nelson: running around watching young people lie down in odd places on the ground.  Well it was unique to say the least!

After youth group, Penny came to pick us up.  She is such a sweet woman.  She has been so kind to me and really uplifted me.  We also picked up her other daughter Alice from her youth group.  I met Mark, Penny’s husband, and Jeremy, her son, when we got to her house.

Penny’s house is amazing.  It feels like a California type house.  It’s on a large hillside overlooking the mountains and the sea.  The sea is a perfect turquoise blue.  You walk into the house from the top floor where the master bedroom is.  Down the stairs in the middle is the kitchen, sitting area, dining room, lounge, and the guest suite.  Down the next set of stairs are all the other bedrooms and the craft room.  

Saturday morning was pretty chill.  I just had some breakfast and watched the taped finale of X-Factor with Penny.  We went grocery shopping for our Thanksgiving feast.  I bought some groceries to take back to Fox with me.  Once back at the house we just started in cooking.  Penny had never made stuffing or pumpkin pie before.  I’ve discovered that this isn’t because she’s a Kiwi, but just because she hasn’t.  Other people here have made them before.  But in general I do think that pumpkin pie is a novelty here.

Cooking with Penny gave me a chance to really get to know her.  We had such a good time.  I can tell that Penny likes to host and have people over.  She spent a good deal of time decorating the table.  She has one of those huge tables that you can just keep pulling out and extending.  Everything came together really well.  For dinner there was Penny, Mark, Alice, Alice’s friend Thalia, a Dutch-Canadian couple, and the neighbors from across the street.  We had such a good time.  It really felt like Thanksgiving to me.  We didn’t have turkey because no one in Penny’s family likes it and I don’t either.  So we had lamb and chicken.

The dessert was also great!  It was a bit of a mix between Kiwi traditions and American and Dutch traditions.  We had pumpkin pie, Dutch apple pie, and a pavlova roll.  Pavlova is the traditional New Zealand dessert.  It’s so so good.  I tried all three.  For never having made pumpkin pie before Penny did a great job.  I was a bit worried because it was made with real pumpkin and at home we usually use canned.  But Penny’s pie was delicious!

I can tell you I went to bed exhausted.

We went back to Sophie’s church on Sunday morning.  Sophie led worship and I loved being back in a church service with other believers.  I haven’t been to church since I left Hawaii!  It was almost enough for me to chuck the job in Fox and stay in Nelson just to go to this church!  The pastor actually spoke on thanksgiving just like any pastor at home would have done!  I loved it.

Later Penny, Mark, and Mac (their dog) and I went for a walk on the beach.  Mac just ran loose on the beach and in the water while Penny, Mark, and I enjoyed a stroll in the sand.  I’ve been to so many beaches lately that I feel spoiled.  I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep them all separate in my head!  We had lunch with a lot of leftover dessert.  Then I took a lovely nap.  It felt like being home.

I'm so thankful to be in New Zealand and for all the wonderful people I've met here!