We met the Sargent family during the summer through a mutual friend. I was so happy to meet them as our kids are of the same age and they're also missionaries here in Hiroshima. Just those two factors alone mean that we have a lot to talk about! :) The BEST part, of course, is that we can communicate with each in ENGLISH - phew! It's always a lot of fun hanging out with them. :)
They invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner and we were excited as it was our first one here in Japan and for me, it was my first ever non-fusion-ized American-only Thanksgiving dinner. When we got there, I couldn't believe how much M had managed to prepare! For a family with two young kids and another on the way, cooking massive amounts of delicious food is a real accomplishment. I really really appreciated the amount of effort that went into the preparation of the meal, especially as some of the ingredients are hard to find and/or need to be made completely from scratch. The turkey breast came from a Costco 3 and a half hours away!
As some of the other guests were coming late after work and its hard for us to eat and feed the kids at the same time, we had the kids eat first...
J, the Sargents' oldest, and Juhee both attend Samuel Yochien, but different branches and are in the same "grade". They are SO alike it's amazing. Misty and I often look at each other and just laugh when one of them does something 'cause they're just like two peas in a pod! They'll both often switch from English to Japanese and back and both understand the other perfectly. They both love pink, love Disney princesses, have a love/hate relationship with the camera, are very bossy and independent, yet also very sweet and caring too.
This was Sungjae's first time eating turkey, and as he's my picky eater, I wasn't sure if he'd like it, but he LOVED it! He ate so much turkey, delicious muffins, mashed potatoes, and even a little bit of dressing. He even fed L. a little bit! :) She didn't want her own food, but ate some of his. After having some of his, she sat down and ate too. Both younger siblings finished before the older ones. :)
Our only contribution to this meal was the salad. EVERYthing else was prepared by M & M and it all tasted AMAZING!!! Even the pumpkin pie with German whipped cream. Lots and lots of whipped cream. I love whipped cream. Too bad they don't have the sweet American ones here - yet. The drink in the picture is not coke - it's Dr. Pepper! They shared some of their precious Dr. Pepper with us, which also came from a Costco 3 and a 1/2 hours away. Apparently we can get Dr. Pepper at a foreign import store quite close to us somewhere. I haven't been yet, but I'll definitely need to go have a look someday to see what they have. I'm sure they won't have big multi-packs though. ;)
We made four (one person still hadn't arrived) new friends that day. We'd heard of them from various mutual friends (small international community here :)) and it was nice to finally get to meet them. Juhee got to watch Beauty and the Beast for the first time ever and was completely mesmerized. After the movie, Juhee had fun playing with J and, of course, they fought too. :) Sungjae had fun playing with L. They're SO cute together! Sungjae was really tired toward the end but he was really good about it. When we told him we were going to go and that it was time to put our jackets on, he became so happy! :)
We stayed out the latest I think we've ever been out (as a family of four). I can't remember exactly now, but I think we left around 10:30pm!!! Even then, we didn't really want to leave. I was so glad Juhee didn't have school the next day!
The Sargents' live in a new part of town that is more American in the way its been built (wider roads, shrubbery along roads, shopping centers with big parking lots, more American-style block-type neighborhoods instead of a maze of small side streets and random buildings on random corners) so combined with the hours of English speaking with Americans in an American home eating a (my first ever!) traditional Thanksgiving dinner, I felt like Peter was driving on the wrong side of the road on our way home. I was glad he was the one driving and not me! :)
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