Thanksgiving in Israel!

When It hit me that Thanksgiving in Israel meant I was not going to get to be at home with my family and grandparents in Texas, I got really sad. So I decided that while it is not done every year, this year OTZMA needed to have a really great Thanksgiving celebration. So about two weeks ago a few of us started to plan thanksgiving, starting with the invitations.

As you can see on the invitation, the thanksgiving meal was not the only festivity of the day. In addition to dinner, we decided (per demand of many of the boys) to have a big football game. I'm sure it surprises no one that I was really excited for this part of the day. In fact, I even told Abby (who came to Thanksgiving with me, which thankfully also made the day feel more like home) that she had to come the night before so she could play in the football game. However I did not know what I was getting myself into. When about a dozen of us showed up to play (with another half dozen spectators
on the sidelines), the boys decided we were playing full on tackle football. Now while I have often joked around with friends that we should play tackle football, I have never actually played (and especially not with large boys...men?). But we began to play tackle football, and it was really fun. While I definitely got thrown to the ground a few times, I still had a great time. And abb came out as MVP! At one point a new spectator showed up and asked who was winning, and the answer was not "this team" or "that team", but simply "Abby". She evaded so many tackles and got half of our touchdowns!

Now even though I am vegetarian, having a turkey at Thanksgiving is a must. But finding a full turkey in Israel is not so simple (neither is finding an oven big enough to cook it...we only have toaster ovens in our apartments). While we ordered (yes, ordered) a turkey a week in advance at the grocery store, when we went to pick it up there was no turkey. Apparently there is currently an agricultural strike in Israel which meant that we couldn't buy a full turkey. So instead, we bought quite a few large breasts and legs. And then my future roommate, Amir, used the conservative shul's oven to cook the turkey. And props to Amir, I heard the turkey was incredible! In fact all of the food was incredible. The meal was potluck, and with 35 people there were a lot of really great dishes. Some of the dishes were sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, onion and garlic potatoes, rice and veggies, knishes, stuffed mushrooms, pea soup, and butternut squash soup. Plus, we had a few pies and some chocolate balls for dessert. Needless to say, I was really impressed with the cooking ability of my new family.

During the meal, we all went around and said what we were most thankful for. Most people said they were thankful for having a new family in Israel since we were all really missing home. And I have to agree, it was really nice to be able to come together and create whatever kind of homely feeling we could. And since we don't have cold weather, it hasn't really felt like thanksgiving. So in order to combat the weather (and lack of holiday decorations all around Israel), we made our own decorations. A few of the girls made turkey hats, we had nice festive table clothes, construction paper leaves on the tables, and some small candles to set the mood. Needless to say, we turned a once dreary room into a festive room.

GO BLUE TONIGHT AGAINST OSU!!!

Love you all,
Jenn