Friday, December 4, 2015

Thanksgiving in Japan

Hello again blog readers!

Sorry for the delay with this week's post, classes here are winding down at Yamanashi Gakuin and I've been working to complete final papers in preparation for my return back to the states. However, that isn't to say that I've had no time for anything entertaining or recreational, over this past week back in the states friends and family celebrated Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, Japan doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, so for the first time I found myself missing the noisy family gatherings that usually bored me in the past. So in order to take a bit of a break from the stress of my upcoming finals (and simultaneously celebrate a holiday from back home), me and a friend from Florida decided to have our own very unorthodox Thanksgiving dinner together by reserving the cooking studio. Michelle and I went off to the super market to get supplies for a meal made up of several foods we missed back home. The meal we planned out was far from the standard turkey and stuffing with the works, instead we settled on making spaghetti as our main course. The whole meal consisted of bacon and hash browns, Italian garlic bread with cheese and tomatoes, spaghetti cooked with fresh olive oil and garlic/basil.

  
A one of a kind Thanksgiving meal in Japan with Michelle.

Yamanashi Gakuin has a small kitchen area connected to the cafeteria that is available for students to reserve ahead of time and use, so we decided to take advantage of that and spent the evening cooking and laughing (no typical family noisiness). It was quite nice being able to celebrate with another American, I had proposed the idea to my Japanese roommates, however they didn't seem all too interested.


Michelle and I having way too much fun being able to cook again!

While immersing yourself in the culture of  your host country is incredibly important, I think it's almost equally important to try retaining your own cultural identity in certain aspects. Something as simple as having different foods we'd missed from back home ended up showing me that just because I'm in Japan and loving it, I don't need to forget about the traditions and holidays that I'm used to back in the states. So while I'm all for advising everyone that goes abroad to try to fully experience the culture/cuisine/etc. of their host countries, don't be afraid to take breaks from that to enjoy spending time with students from your home country either, especially when you find yourself stressing about finals/projects and missing familiar holidays from back home.

So, while I wasn't able to be home for Thanksgiving dinner with my family back in Pennsylvania, I ended up having a great experience with Michelle cooking and enjoying a much needed break from rice and Japanese cuisine (don't get me wrong, it's delicious). In the meantime, I'll be continuing work on a series of final papers that will be due in the next two weeks or so and trying to find time in between to savor the last little bit of time I have left in Japan. I'm at the point now that I'm ready to be home with my friends back at W&J.

Until next time,
Julia.

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