The calendar reminded us that Canadian Thanksgiving was fast approaching so some of the Canadian faculty decided to get together to celebrate. I would say about 35% of the TCIS faculty are from Canada so there was lots of interest in having a Thanksgiving meal.Even though not everyone could attend, most of those who did show up hail from the southern region of Ontario -- Guelph, Peterborough, Toronto, North York, Waterloo with a few from Alberta and British Columbia. It really is kind of strange having so many Canadian locals with me here in Daejon Korea -- strange but I sure appreciate their company! Since most of the staff from TCIS live within a three-block radius of one another, it wasn’t a far walk for any of us to get to our host's apartment.
My responsibilities included bringing drinks and ice. Sounded simple enough, but I soon found out that locating ice in Korea is akin to finding palm trees in Canada. Well, while I was selecting from an assortment of drinks at one of the local “kogaes” (neighborhood stores), I noticed a stainless steel refrigerator in the back employee-region of the store. I decided to do a little personal investigation since I didn’t have a clue how to ask for “ice” in Korean. Long story short: I found a freezer full of ice and was able to convey to the owner that I would like to buy some! Soon I was on my way to dinner feeling pretty good about my find =)
The week before our dinner, word had spread across campus like wild-fire that Costco had pumpkin pie and Canada Dry! No turkeys to be found in Korea but securing these other major food groups assured us of a great meal. And what a fantastic meal it was, including a lot of western tastes like chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc etc and, of course, pumpkin pie. Had to laugh because we ended up with six HUGE 15-16” diameter Costco pumpkin pies for 15 people. Thank goodness the pie was incredibly good because many of us are still eating leftovers.
