Turkey for Me and Turkey for You!

I like Turkey Day.

I like it alot. Turkey, gravy, stuffing, my mom's sauteed peas and carrots, pastitsio (Greek lasagna, no tomato sauce), and all the other goodies. Mashed potato! Don't care too much for sweet potato pie though, especially if it has marshmallows. I don't like marshmallows. Only in s'mores, and piping hot.

Every Thursday at the Lincoln Center cafeteria was "Turkey Thursday." They served up Thanksgiving dinner all year round, with gravy, stuffing, mashed potato, veggies, cranberry sauce and mac&cheese. That, next to the quesadillas and the wraps was the best thing the Sodexho (otherwise known as the distributers of poison) made. Great tradition. Bad for the waistline.

Which begs the question: What are you doing for Thanksgiving, Maria?

I am having turkey in Osaka.

As Felicia succinclty stated: "Bet that you would have never thought that you would be saying that."

This is my second Thanksgiving abroad. The first time around, I was in London; the study abroad program that I applied to to go SOAS hosted a big American style Thanksgiving dinner at a hotel. It was a BUFFET. All you can eat turkey and mashed potato!

However, I was somewhat sick at the time; I was coming down with a fever, so I did not have that much of an appetite. For shame! Waste of good gravy.

But today, oh TODAY, I am taking the JR train from Kyoto to Osaka station, meeting up with Colleen and her mom and going to this pub place for turkey dinner, for 1300yen a plate. It was my idea to go somewhere for Thanksgiving - I'll bet there is no kitchen in an apartment occupied by a student within a radius of 50 miles that can handle turkey. That, and I'll bet there is not a whole turkey to be found within a radius of 100 miles. I read in my Kyoto guidebook that there was a pub that had turkey dinner, but (sadly) there is no turkey this year, due to a lack of interest.

So, the wheels in my head began to turn. Obviously, Tokyo will have turkey dinners galore because a) it is the capital of Japan and b) there are alot of expats in Tokyo, more than in any other place in Japan. So, a bit of trivia:

If Tokyo is to Kanto, then what is to Kansai? (No amount of SAT prep would enable you to answer this one, unfortuantely for you).

OSAKA. Kanto and Kansai are specific regions of Japan, and you can pretty much say that the rivalry between the two regions is as hot as a Bosox/Yankees rivavlry. The question is, who is more crazier. (I hear that at baseball games, Osakans go nuts.) Alisa confirmed that Bosox fans are crazy, as evidenced in their first World Series win back in 2004 in god knows how long. Can anyone say, "1918"? (But that was when Babe Ruth was traded, hence the "Curse of the Bambino.")

I am pretty sure it's the largest city in the Kansai area, and hence, lotsa expat places to go to. Generally, it is Colleen's, Ingram's, Alisa's and my prerogative and mantra to STAY AWAY from places where gaijin congregate. No bueno. We do not adhere to that stereotype! However as Colleen said, "It's Thanksgiving. We need turkey."

Yes, I do need my turkey. Colleen needed her turkey too. We both like turkey.

Next step: Google.

I began a search on places for Thanksgiving dinner, and after 10 minutes I found a place in Osaka that not only has Turkey on 11/23, but also 11/24. Since 11/23 is Turkey Day in the States, we go on 11/23 here. As I told Colleen, her mom being here adds to the whole "family-ish" aspect of the holiday, soo I am really looking foward to it.

What is even cooler is that 11/23 in Japan is "Labor Thanksgiving Day" (i.e. Labor Day, without the barbeques and the rule of putting all your white clothes away). The Japanese like their holidays. There was one on 11/3 that was "Culture Day." I think there might be more holidays here than in the US. Since 11/23 is Labor Thanksgiving Day, we had the day off from school. Coincidentally, 11/23 is on a Thursday; 11/23 is Thanskgiving Day back home. It is also the big "November Festival" this weekend at school (don't ask me why or what is going on during that time) so we also have Friday off.

Can anyone say, "FOUR DAY WEEKEND!"

So, today I eat my turkey. Tomorrow, I go back to Osaka and meet up with a college friend of mine who is from Osaka, but came to the States for college. And either Saturday or Sunday, I go to Osaka again with Alisa, to go to a spa.

Alternatively, this can also be called "Osaka to the Third Power."

Or, "Google Saves the Day (Once Again!)" - I found the spa in Osaka on google.