Two days ago, I spent my first Thanksgiving outside of the country. That alone was plenty to give thanks for. We originally planned on hosting a party of 15 at our house, but since we don’t have an oven, baking would have been out of the question. Instead, D. and A. hosted us at their new house. We went over early and started cooking. The hosts contributed a few dishes, as did the other guests for a delicious meal of Turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots ( I made), two kinds of stuffing ( I made one of them ), cranberry sauce, rolls, two kinds of stir fried Thai vegetables, two kinds of Thai fried rice, plum tarts, brownies, and fresh Thai fruits.

It was a delicious feast. About half of the Thai people took to the food, most of which had never had a Thanksgiving meal before. The rest of the evening involved hulahooping, running around, sticking coins to my head, pretending to be a rabbit, playing cards, and drawing exquisite corpses. By the time we left, it was too late to catch a song taew, so we chartered a tuk tuk the whole way home. It was the longest ride on a tuk tuk I’ve ever had. The air is finally getting cooler here, and the ride home was crisp and hair-raising.

This Thanksgiving I missed my family, but I did not miss America.

Some photos: