Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Thanksgiving at the Compound

Thanksgiving was an interesting event this year. To be honest, it didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all since we were unable to be with family. We were served a nice cafeteria style Thanksgiving meal. Unfortunately the pumpkin pie was, let's just say, not like home. For those of you who know our kids well, you will understand when I say that even they didn't want to eat it. (Jacob was the exception). The pecan pie was ok though. We are normally not given any desserts at all, so I guess something was better than nothing, right?

We had a Western European Christmas party that evening that I organized and it was really fun. We all brought over our leftovers from lunch and made a few other snacks to supplement. We watched "Elf", which is always a good time and after the kids went to bed we watched the quintessential Thanksgiving day movie...."A Christmas Story". 

Friday morning we had to get up and get on the bus (with children) to drive to Washington DC for the day. We were given several assignments to complete while we were there. We were supposed to be experiencing international cuisine and culture while observing and interacting with international people (preferably from our people group, which is Europeans). I can only say that there is a reason that Philip and I have never taken our children on vacation. It was because we didn't WANT to. I have never claimed to be easy-going and a full day exploring a new city with 3 preschoolers in 40 degree weather is not my idea of fun. Madeline and Jacob were able to nap for a few minutes in the stroller which was a true answer to prayer. We were able to find a German restaurant to go to for lunch which was good. It was small and extremely difficult to get into with the strollers (yes, we took two) which was a good preview for life in Europe. Once we were inside the food was really good and the kids were very brave in trying everything. They tried rye bread-"yucky", pumpernickel bread-"yucky", white french bread-"good", schnitzel-"good", potato pancakes-"yucky", spaetzle noodles-"yucky", and Isabel tried bratwurst and sauerkraut which she promptly vowed to never eat again. So, overall a great experience.

Here are some pictures from the weekend. We miss everyone and are excited to be coming back home soon. Yeah!






3 comments:

~Erin said...

Oh, I love it...the Isabel / Maddy picture is a classic :) I laughed out loud but only because it truly shows THEM :)

Rod said...

Great pics... Jacob really looks like he is ordering off the menu...

RM

foxpaw said...

this is soooooo eerie! Your experience in DC sounds like OUR experience in DC. We did NOT want to go - the Goethe Institute was closed (day after Thanksgiving, you know) - we ate in the exact same German restaurant (there must be only one in DC). We loved the spaetzle, and the bread (although the actual German bread is MUCH better than that pumpernickel and rye - do not eve USE the word pumpernickel in Germany, it means something different).
Glad you all have finally arrived in the real world ... (and are out of the 'compound')