Day 239: Underdressing For Dressing

Today was a day that I had been looking forward to with great anticipation all week long - Thanksgiving!!! A bunch of us at work had signed up to participate in the Thanksgiving Dinner organized by the Canadian Embassy here in Seoul, and we all knew that it was going to be a meal to die for. God, if we only knew how unbelievably delicious that meal was going to be!

I hung out at Namdaemun Market with Sally & Jason and then we cruised around Itaewon for a while. After that it was time to head on over to the Grand Hilton Seoul for our fabulous festive meal. Our mouths were salivating with anticipation! When we arrived our first reaction wasn't quite what we had expected... It was a semi-formal event, and we were dressed completely casually...

Uhhhh...apparently we missed the memo or something about dress code? I was totally embarrassed! There were people there in suits and evening gowns and here us trashy teachers were in jeans and t-shirts! I totally felt like hiding! I pride myself on being a good dresser - I'm *never* underdressed! Oh well - too late now. We're here now and goddammit we paid our 60,000 Won so we're gonna enjoy ourselves! Luckily later on a few other people showed up to the dinner dressed not unlike ourselves so we felt a little better at not being the only ones who were severely undressed.

The hotel was stunning and the ballroom all dressed up in Thanksgiving splendour. A few speeches and welcome remarks were made by the Ambassador and then it was time to chow down on the magnificent buffet laid out before our very eyes. Now this is a Thanksgiving spread that you have never even fathomed - more gorgeous and grand than anything in your wildest dreams. Here's the menu, and you better be sitting down for this one. It really is *that* amazing!

-Pumpkin Soup
-Assorted Leaves with Dressings
-Red Beet Salad
-Tomato & Onion Salad
-Coleslaw with Caraway Seeds
-Decorated Cold Poached Whole Salmon
-Creamy Mashed Potatoes
-Scallop Potatoes with Cheddar Cheese
-Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Peas & Carrots
-Sauteed Pumpkin with Molasses
-Yam
-Green Beams Almondine
-Bread Stuffing
-Whole Tom Turkey
-Glazed Harvest Ham
-Gilbert Gravy
-Madeira Sauce
-Cranberry Sauce
-Hard Rolls & Farmer Rolls
-Pumpkin Pie
-Apple Pie
-Pecan Pie
-Lemon Meringue Pie
-Maple Crepes
-Cheese Cake
-Vanilla Sauce, Raspberry Sauce, Chocolate Sauce
-Vanilla Ice Cream with Maple Syrup

HOLY SHIT! Now if that's not the best frickin' Thanksgiving Dinner line-up you've ever seen, then I don't know what is! We dove on into our meals and the moans of pleasure began almost immediately. Everything was absolutely delicious! Not only did they import all this food from Canada, but they must've flown in chefs from back home too cause there's no way Koreans could have made this meal (Koreans don't eat *anything* that's on this menu, ever.) It was like an orgasm in your mouth with every bite. Culinary ecstacy at its finest. It was almost too much handle. I wish I had had ten stomachs so I could've shoved it all in. It was amazing and it was perfect.

When you're far from home and without daily comforts, food takes on a whole new level of importance for you. This should come as no surprise to you considering how many times I've talked about food in this blog over the last eight months. Perhaps it's cause I've been without all that sort of food the whole time I've been here, or maybe it was just prepared just right, but it was *The Best Meal I've Had In Years.* It really was THAT good! I can't say enough good things!

I ate so much I wanted to hurl but god did it ever feel good. I'm drooling right now just thinking about it again! After dinner they had some musical performances and then came the door prizes. This is where things got even more interesting. Three of us teachers ended up going home with some pretty swanky prizes in hand, including Yours Truly. I won a three-month VIP membership to this posh fitness centre in Seoul (the same one Michael goes to, surprisingly enough) and that was pretty cool. What was even cooler was that one of my coworkers, Kelly, won a return trip to Vancouver! And then her boyfriend Michael won the 50/50 draw, worth 333,000 Won! WOW!! One couple took home the two biggest prizes of the night, and they're both Poly Crew! We sure cleaned up that night!

I had several glasses of white wine during the night (four were included with my meal ticket) and danced a couple times with Katie and Addie. After the evening wound down Michael came and picked us up and drove us back to Ilsan. Katie went home to bed while the three of us watched Spiceworld and played Crazy 8's. I may have been a little tipsy. I went to sleep that night with a very, very happy tummy. To the Canadian Embassy who put all of this together for us Canadian expats here in Korea - thank you! thank you! thank you!!!

P.S. A special thank you goes out to Jason back in T-Bay who gave me a pretty accurate 411 on how to prepare my stomach all day long for such a big meal. Thanks Jay for helping me to maximize my Thanksgiving Dinner capacity! You're a pro, man! ;-)